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COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



























TALES 

OF 

UNUSUAL SALES 


Dedicated to His Majesty 

“The American Salesman*’ 



Copyright 1923, by 

National Salesmen’s Training Association. Printed in the 
United.States of America. All property rights reserved in 
foreign countries, including the right of translation. 


National Salesmen’s Training Association 

Chicago, Ill., U. S. A. 




* -I 

o ,>♦$ 

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HAY -8 *23 


©C1A704517 


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TALES OP UNUSUAL SALES 


3 






INDEX OF STORIES 


Putting One Over on a Tartar. A. J. Anderson 

Handling a Hard Boiled One. George E . Gardner 

Took Advantage of an Opening. Alvan Daubenpeck 

“Following the Scent’’. Mary 1. Lewis 

Confidence Won. John E. Rohr 

Stayed with Him Until He Sold Him. Delbert E. Veatch 

Six Months to Sell One Automobile. H. W. GratVin 

Didn’t Overlook a Point. E. Ri Wohlert 

Overcame Many Obstacles. S. B. Morris 

Resold a Disgruntled Prospect. C . H. F. 

Sold an Atheist a Bible. F. M. Riley 

Strategy in Selling Books. Elizabeth Buck 

Knew His Man.. Dan W. Brooks 

It Wasn’t So Easy.. J . G. Grngel 

Selling Stock and Caskets. C. C. French 

Built Confidence to Win. William H. Clark 

A Business Building Idea.. .Robert P. Pml 

Used Taste and Tact with Samples. J. W . Ziegfeld 

Tough Sledding Before the Sale. Raymond Wilson 

Service Plus Wins a Permanent Customer. Wm. C . Alexander 

Two Men Got a Bargain. Ike Bernstein 

Service Plus Determination. Marc R. Cohn 

He Sold Himself. A. L. Meisenheimer 

Convincing the Buyer on Quality. C. A. Bradley 

Sold a Man [Who “Wouldn’t Buy”. W. C. Ergood 

Sold a Man Who Was Not Interested. A. F. Thompson 

No Easy Task. T. Sommers 

Made Them Sell Themselves. J. 0. 

Out of the Beaten Path. W. 8. English 

His Best Sale Taught Him a Valuable Lesson. .E. P. Moore 

Gave a Lesson and Secured an Order. L. L. LaGrange 

He Didn’t Give Up. Burt Greenwood 

The Unexpected Approach. T. Z. Watson 


































4 TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 


Found a Loophole. L. J. Dykes 

Overcoming a Hard Objection. Ben B. Brands 

Made Him Pay Attention. C. W. Childs 

“Too Darn Much Stuff’’. Walt Krueger 

Talked Four Hours Without a Response. .. .Louise K. Smith 

A Little Strategy. Wm. A. Torney 

Strategy in Demonstrating. H. L. Hartsock 

Made the Prospect See the Proposition. H. L. Hartsock 

A Little Flattery Won Him. E. V . Godley 

Cracked a Hard Nut. Morris Kugler 

My Most Satisfactory Sale. A. E. Charlesworth 

Educated the Buyer on a Fundamental Principle 

. H. W. J arrow 

Cashed in on Courage. Douglas Mack 

Took Sixty Days. E. H. Wyman 

Logic Wins.. J. M. Oliphant 

A Rather Strange Introduction. Hugo Bruhn, Sweden 

Made a Bet to Get Attention. E. L. Daughtridge 

Inspired a Pessimistic Prospect. Fred J. Lenk 

Football Tactics. R. Cohan 

Made the Doctor See the Point. John E. JLukey 

It Took Salesmanship. R. Jones 

Overcame the Cut Price Menace. L. P. Wrenn 

Bucked the Son-in-Law... C. C. Morrison 

It Pays to Stick. Joseph Kohart, Jr. 

Wouldn’t Take “No”. Fred Theiss 

Boosted a Competitor and Won. J. Schenkman 

An Order Was Just Around the Corner. W. R. Webb 

Handling a Dodging Dealer. Clarence E. Scott 

Leaving the Buyer No Other Option. L. C. Cron 

A Real Achievement. Elizabeth Buck 

Golden Rule Leads to Sale. C. Kingsley Rowland 

Educating the Buyer to Get the Order. B.E. Rotting 

Forcing an Opportunity. H. W. Ashton 

Sold Stock to Bank President. W. F. Davis 

Sold Three at Once. J. D. Van Etten 

Working Against the Wife’s Wishes. S. M. Huffman 

“More or Less” Brought Home the Bacon. Paul Jarvis 

My Fifty-Dollar Thought. L. F. Bogan 










































TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 5 


Refused to Be Turned Down. R. J. Pickett 

Proved His Case. N. Lewsen 

Sold Them Fast as They Came. J. J. Hoffman 

Showing the Mother. Theodore Belt 

Sold by Selling. H. A. Pound 

Avoided an Argument. Herbert N. Casson 

Diplomacy as an Aid to Salesmanship. C. E. MacCanon 

Sidestepped Impossible Promises. H. W. Ashton 

Got Down to ‘‘Brass Tacks”. L. Smith 

Not Taking “No” for an Answer. 0. A. Cross 

Sold Himself. M. Robb 

Dramatized a Situation. E. W. Branson 

One Good Turn Deserves Another. E. A. Hall 

Made Dramatics Pay. A. M. Prevost 

Repartee and Nerve. C. D. Holcomb 

Botany and Vacuum Cleaners. F. D. Colvin 

Demonstration Overcomes Objection. J. F. Sullivan 





























TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 


7 


INDEX TO LINES 


PAGES 

Adding Machines.11, 14 

Advertising.16, 18 

Autographic Registers. 20 

Automobiles .23, 26 

Automobile Accessories . 28 

Babbitt Metal . 31 

Books .36, 38 

Bookkeeping Machines .33, 156 

Canned Goods .41, 128, 130 

Cash Registers . 43 

Caskets . 45 

Castings . 47 

Cement . 49 

Clothing.52, 55, 58, 60 

Clothing—Direct to Wearer. 63 

Coffee . 65 

Corn . 68 

Crackers . 69 

Credit Systems . 73 

Electrical Goods . 75 

Furnaces . 77 

Gas Mantles . 78 

Gloves . 81 

Glue . 83 

Groceries . 82 

Hosiery . 85 

* Ideas . 87 

Insurance—Health and Accident . 89 

Interested Attention. 91 

A Kitchen Utensils .. 92 

Life Insurance .94, 96 

Lighting Plants .98, 100 

Lumber . 402 







































8 TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 


PAGES 


Machinery . 106 

Machinery—Jewelry . 109 

Miscellaneous .......110, 112, 114, 118, 119, 121, 122, 124 

Multigraph Machines. 134 

Overshoes . 137 

Paint .141, 143 

Pickles ... 149 

Pumps .132, 150 

Real Estate. 152 

Roofing.155, 157 

Screw Machine—Automatic . 159 


Securities. 

Service—Banking. 

Service—Bonding . 

Service—Educational ... 

Service—Efficiency. 

Service—Government Tax 

Service—Industrial . 

Service—Personal . 

Sewing Machines . 

Storage Batteries . 

Trucks . 

Typewriters . 

Vacuum Sweepers .. 

Washing Machines. 


45, 161, 164, 167, 169 

. 171 

. 176 

.178, 180, 181 

. 183 

. 184 

.188, 189 

.191, 193 

. 196 

. 198 

. 200 

.126, 173 

.203, 207 

. 209 






























PREFACE 


AFTER reading the contents of this unique book 
none will deny that it is replete with inspira¬ 
tion, business romance and the thrills that are part 
and parcel of the profession of selling. 

Every story is a tribute to American salesmanship 
and that dominating spirit, so typically American, of 
refusing to recognize defeat, no matter what the 
odds may be. 

Salesmen cannot read these stories of unusual 
sales without feeling glad that they belong to a pro¬ 
fession where achievements of this kind are possible. 
Success is not so much a matter of making money as 
it is of accomplishing things, of wresting victory in 
in the face of great odds. There is more of a thrill 
to gaining the lead on a sales force for the first time 
than there is to making a million through a lucky 
speculation. 

What can be more exhilarating than making a 
sale after a hard fight—a fight that demands cour¬ 
age, clear thinking, strategy, persistence and a full 
measure of salesmanship? 

In the unusual sales on these pages that follow, you 
will find every form of sales resistance battered down 
by American salesmen. You will read how they did 
it. Needless to say, you will feel the urge to go and 
do likewise. Every page is an inspiration. Every 
page is an education. 



TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 


11 


PUTTING ONE OVER ON A TARTAR 

By A. J. Anderson 

1 WAS selling Burroughs Adding Machines in Nebraska. 
Late one gloomy, rainy afternoon, I arrived in a small 
town in the nortlnvestern part of the state. It was one of 
those gloomy, depressing sort of days that adversely affects 
the disposition of any one who lets himself be affected by the 
weather. 

I registered at the hotel and went across the street to the 
First National Bank. I had been tipped off not to try and 
do business with anyone but the president, as he was very 
jealous of his authority. 

I went into the bank and asked for the president by name— 
say it was Smith—which it wasn’t. He came out of his pri¬ 
vate office and up to the rail. I put out my hand and in 
my pleasantest manner said: 

“Mr. Smith, - is my name. I represent the Bur¬ 
roughs Adding Machine Company and -.” 

That was as far as I got. He burst out, “What do you 
mean by coming into my bank. One of your men was in here 
several months ago and I told him to take his machine out and 
to never let another man in his company come into my bank 
again.” 

Needless to say I was thunderstruck and speechless for a 
moment. Then it flashed through my mind that if I took that 
I was done for with that man. Also I knew I could not do 
anything to get myself in worse with him than I was right 
then. I gathered my wits and my courage together, looked 
him straight in the eye, and said : 

“Mr. Smith, you have a mean disposition. I wouldn’t de¬ 
mean myself by talking to a man like you. Good day!” and 
I walked out of the bank. 










12 


TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 


When I got back to the hotel, the clerk, whom I had known 
in another hotel, asked me how I had come out. He had a 
wise smile as he asked it. I told him of my experience, which 
gave him a good laugh. He told me this president was notori¬ 
ous as a tartar to handle and said it was too bad but I sure 
was out of luck. I came right back at him and said, “I’m 
going to sell that man,” and this is how I did it. 

About two weeks later, I arranged to go to this town and 
to get in there in the morning. I shipped a machine by 
express to the town to myself and a stand to put it on. When 
I got in town, I stopped at the depot—got my machine un¬ 
crated, set up on the stand—a roll of paper on it—in fact all 
ready to pull the handle and start to work. I then went up 
to the hotel, got my friend the clerk to go over to the bank 
and find out if the president, Mr. Smith, was in the bank. I 
then stationed a bell boy in front of the hotel to watch the 
bank and to give me the sign when I came back if Mr. Smith 
had gone out. 

Then I hired a drayman to go down to the depot with me 
and get my machine, which was all set up ready to go. I told 
him, “You drive up the street right behind me. If I go into 
the bank you take the machine out and bring it in the door 
just two minutes after I go in. If I get the sign my man has 
gone out in the meantime, I’ll go right by without stopping 
and you do the same. ’ ’ 

I came up the street with the dray right in my wake. The 
bell boy gave me the sign that my man had not come out. 
I walked in and asked for Mr. Smith. He came out from 
his office and up to the rail. It had been a dark afternoon 
when I was there before and he evidently had not gotten my 
face in his memory, for he didn’t recognize me. I put out 
my hand and in a bright and cheery tone said: 

“Good morning, Mr. Smith. I came in to show you the 
new Burroughs Adding Machine. I was talking to you 
about it a few weeks ago.” As I was saying these words the 
drayman walked in and put my machine down beside me and 
I pulled the handle. 

Needless to say he was as much taken back as I had been 





TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 13 


when he treated me so coldly on my first visit. He swallowed 
hard a couple of times, looked me over, and finally laughed. 

“Well,” he said. “Any salesman with your nerve deserves 
a hearing. Show me your machine.” 

I did show him and sold him the machine, but I surely 
never would have sold that man had I weakened the first time 
and left, hoping to find him in a better humor some other day. 





14 


TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 


HANDLING A HARD BOILED ONE 

By George E. Gardner 

1 CALLED on an oil producer in Tulsa, who had a com¬ 
petitive machine on trial. I gave him a demonstration on 
my machine and was requested to leave it with him for a 
couple of days so he could try it out and also ask his friends, 
who owned Dalton machines how they liked them. I called 
back on him again in three days. He said all of his friends 
advised him to buy a Dalton machine but he said he had made 
up his mind to purchase the other make. I asked him to tell 
me why he intended to buy a different machine when all his 
friends advised him to buy a Dalton. He refused to give me 
his reason and insisted on my taking my machine away. I 
was inclined to get peeved at him for treating me in this 
abrupt manner but I controlled my temper and made up my 
mind that I would sell him. 

He had a young nephew working for him who had just 
graduated from a business college and had never used our 
machine. I explained to the customer that I thought it only 
fair that he give his nephew an opportunity to learn how to 
use the Dalton machine now while he had one in his office. 
After considerable persuasion he agreed to let me keep my 
machine there until I had taught his nephew how to use it 
but he told me to distinctly understand that he did not intend 
to buy it. I came right back at him by saying that I never 
would ask him to buy it. I called at his office a number of 
times and instructed the nephew until he became an expert 
touch operator on the Dalton machine. Never happening to 
run into the proprietor all these times until the last day when 
I visited the office I found an auditor working on the books 
and also the owner. When I went in I saw that they were 
busy and hesitated for a minute; then excused myself for 
interrupting. The owner bawled out to me to sit down, which 
I did. After waiting a few minutes, he bawled out to me 






TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 


15 


again, “I suppose you think it about time I bought the ma¬ 
chine.” I replied that I had quit thinking and it was up to 
him to do the thinking now. He waited about ten minutes 
more, keeping busy on his books, and then bawled at me again 
and asked me the price of my machine and then began to 
work on his books again and apparently ignored me. I waited 
about ten more minutes when he suddenly told his bookkeeper 
to give me a check for the first payment on the machine. I 
then asked the customer to please sign a contract which he did 
and then gave me a check. I thanked him and left. Since 
then this party has become a great booster for the Dalton and 
has helped me make a number of sales. 


9 





16 


TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 


TOOK ADVANTAGE OF AN OPENING 

By Alvan Daubenpeck 

T HE best sale I ever made was an advertising order for a 
large oil company in Cleveland. 

This company had always been buying their adver¬ 
tising from a large concern in that city and was well pleased 
with this concern’s work. I knew it w'ould mean a great deal 
if I sold this company and decided to sell them if I possibly 
could. 

I found out that their advertising manager was very busy 
and it would take a good proposition to have him listen to a 
salesman, so I planned a way that evening. It was this: 

My father had a garage, quite large, in a fine location and 
which would be a desirable place for this oil company to sell 
their oil and gasoline. 

The next day I went to see the advertising manager of this 
oil company. He was very busy and so I anxiously waited to 
try out my plan. It was less than an hour, but yet long 
enough to lose the pep of many salesmen. He finally asked 
me what I wanted. 

I asked for a few minutes of his time as I had a good prop¬ 
osition for him. He said to go ahead with my story and I 
told him first what I was selling, my best price, and so on, 
until he interrupted me with, ll I am pretty well stocked up.” 

Immediately I dropped my talk, and in a pleasant 'way, 
asked him how business was. He replied that it was very 
good and told me a few details about his business. 

I then mentioned to him that my father had a garage in a 
fine location and was doing a good business. He asked me 
what gasoline company he bought gasoline from and I told 
him the-Company, a. competitor. 

Quickly he decided that if he would deal with me, I would 
help him to do business with my father. Before he could 






TALES OP UNUSUAL SALES 17 


speak, I mentioned to him again what a good proposition he 
was passing up. Of course, I knew he was interested and he 
asked me the price in a certain quantity. I told him and he 
said he would take that amount. After he signed the order, 
he told me to put in a good word for him—which I did. 

My father has done business with him ever since—and so 
have I. 





18 


TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 


“FOLLOWING THE SCENT” 

By Mary I. Lewis 

T HE best sale I ever made happened some years ago. I 
was in the advertising and catalogue department of a 
mid-west wholesale millinery and notion firm. 

My department also took care of the routine of filing the 
mail orders for the house—as well as hustle for them through 
our catalogues and circulars. 

I was always keyed-up to anything that looked like business 
for us. And to sell an “opening account’’ was considered 
an accomplishment to be sought. Our definition of “open¬ 
ing account” was the selling of the first stock to any concern 
just starting in business. 

It happened that a millinery department in a department 
store in our city vacated its quarters. Indirectly I learned 
of this. So on my way to lunch I dropped in and sized up 
the location. It looked good to me! We had never been able 
to do business with the previous tenants of this department. 

I interviewed the manager of the store and inquired the 
rent. When he told me, $35 per month, I asked for a written 
option on the space, and obtained it when I told him my firm’s 
name. Had he said $75 I would have taken it just as quick, 
for it was located, next to the ladies’ suit section. An ideal 
location for millinery. 

I made a quick job of lunch and hurried back to the whole¬ 
sale house and had a private interview with our manager. 

The advantages of the location, I laid before him and told 
him I already had an option of ten days on the space. He 
opened his eyes a bit, at my assurance—I think. For he in¬ 
quired if I “intended to go into business for myself”? I 
replied, “Not just yet.” 

Then I laid my plan before him: “Will you let an expe¬ 
rienced, thoroughly honest party—some one that you know— 
have an opening stock of millinery—on time—that is, with- 




TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 


19 


out any capital—that is, money capital—but plenty of expe¬ 
rience?” He looked at me a little queerly. I continued, 
“Say all the cash receipts, except expenses and a fair salary 
to the party operating the business, is turned over every week 
<—or every day if you wish? You see, I expect the party to 
have enough cash to pay the first month’s rent; the fixtures 
are already there. A note or notes, drawing a nominal inter¬ 
est is to be signed by the party who gets the stock. I want 
them to sign these notes—well, because I want the party to 
realize that the business is theirs —and not ours. I want them 
to feel the responsibility of ownership.” 

The manager sat still, digesting my proposition, before he 
inquired, “Have you anyone in mind, especially, that could 
or would fill this place ? ” I knew then I had won. 

“Yes, several,” I replied—“but I would like to have your 
opinion as to their adaptability and reliability. There’s Miss 
A and Mrs. B and Miss C. I prefer MiSvS C because she has 
been with us a long time—and because she ‘sticks.’ She has 
gone back to the same customers season after season. I don’t 
think she could have a better recommendation. She must be 
making money for our customers—or they wouldn’t want her 
to return, season after season. Don’t see why she couldn’t 
make a good customer for us, if given the chance.” 

It was decided that I get in touch with Miss C. The result 
was that she took up my proposition, with the understanding 
that I was in a way to back the venture. 

The manager was shrewd enough to know that I would get 
on my mettle, too, and do my ‘ 1 durndest ’ ’ to pull the venture 
through. And I did. 

This in no way interfered with my position in the wholesale 
house. It gave me a push forward that I didn’t expect. 

The credit for the merchandise sold to Miss C was placed 
in a personal sale’s account for me. And the first of the year 
my desk was moved into the “Main Office”—quite an honor— 
and the first of the New Year I was instructed to devote my 
time and energy and whatever selling ingenuity I had in 
hustling up new trade—or new ways to hold or bring back old 
customers who had strayed away. And I did. 




20 


TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 


CONFIDENCE WON 

By John E. Rohr 


UTOGRAPHIC REGISTERS are time saving devices 



used where a duplicate, triplicate or more copies of 


transactions are required. As a rule, a single demon¬ 
stration will satisfy the prospective customer that much time 
is really saved in executing form records, consequently sales¬ 
men have become more or less accustomed to look for “ Sales 
Resistance” at any other point of the interview than at the 
time of the physical demonstration of the device. Therefore, 
I was considerably surprised to hear one of my prospects tell 
me that he could just as quickly make a duplicate copy of his 
records by the use of his pad form, necessitating as it does 
the location of the pad, and the insertion of carbon paper. 

This man was convinced that our automatic device for pre¬ 
paring carbon paper and forms was no quicker than his pad 
method. Here was a proposition where ordinary methods 
failed, and if the prospect was not sold on this one point it 
would be useless to try to go further. The solution of the 
problem was to go through the physical operation of both 
methods, consequently I asked if I could inspect one of his 
pads. Much to my elation and my prospect’s embarrassment, 
he located the pad, after a considerable search, under some 
papers on his desk. An Autographic Register cannot very 
easily be lost under a few papers, so one can easily see the 
advantage I gained by this point. Added to this, I toj^ed with 
the pad and carbon until one of those ill winds of proverb 
fame lifted one of the carbon sheets and blew it on the floor. 
These two points in addition to a comparison of the physical 
operation necessary to prepare the carbon and sheets for writ¬ 
ing convinced my prospect that after all our proposition 
possessed some merit. 

My prospect, in accordance with that characteristic which 
prospects sometimes have, was not to be sold so easily. While 






TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 


21 


he now thought he would adopt an autographic system it 
appears that a friend of his handles a similar device, and 
while the friend had never convinced him of the desirability 
of the device itself, he thought his friend should have a chance 
at the order. Bearing in mind the friends I believe I possess, 
I told my prospect his stand was admirable, but after all this 
was a business proposition and the man who gave him the 
most for his money was entitled to the business. 

I then analyzed his conditions as to size of form necessary, 
number of copies required and learned much about his record 
keeping conditions and requirements. Upon leaving I in¬ 
formed him that with the information in my possession I 
would draw up a system and submit it later for his inspection. 
He gave me his promise that even though his friend would 
be invited to offer his proposition that no action would be 
taken until after my own proposition had been inspected. 

Now, most systems similar to the one used by my pro¬ 
spective customer are in triplicate. By a study of the informa¬ 
tion in my possession I found that conditions and methods of 
doing business in my prospect’s establishment would permit 
a four-copy set of forms. This fourth copy would save con¬ 
siderable time and many errors because it eliminated the 
extra work now required in copying each record as written 
in triplicate. 

Again calling on my prospect I found that his friend had 
submitted his proposition which was the usual stereotyped 
triplicate system already in use with only the additional ad¬ 
vantages of the time-saving device. He did not analyze con¬ 
ditions with the idea of offering something better. 

My prospect was interested only in a triplicate system after 
all, because going more thoroughly into detail, it was found 
that my four-copy plan was not feasible. However, by study¬ 
ing conditions in attempting to give him the best plan for 
his requirements, even though the plan would not work out, 
I proved that I had considered my prospect’s interests and 
had therefore rendered him a service. 

Had I been content to offer the ordinary proposition my 
competitor and myself would have been at practically an 







TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 


22 


even basis and friendship would have won out. In the first 
place, I had “sold” my prospect his desire for the device it¬ 
self, something which his friend had never been able to ac¬ 
complish. Then because of my study of conditions and my 
suggestions, even though later found not to be feasible, I had 
rendered service to my prospect, which my competitor did 
not. By all the rules of fair selling and buying I was entitled 
to the business and I did not hesitate to so state. I secured 
the order. 





TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 


23 


STAYED WITH HIM UNTIL HE SOLD HIM 

By Delbert E. Veatch 

1 HAD a boss once who always said, “Stay with him until 
you sell him.” And at that he was about right; if you 
don’t the other fellow will. 

Sometime back I started to work for a retail motor sales 
company. I was hired to demonstrate machines and teach 
people how to drive. But at the same time my boss offered 
me a commission above my salary on all the cars that I could 
sell or help sell. I was just eighteen years old at that time 
and I really did not expect to sell any cars. 

I thought that my boss, Mr. Brown (we will call him), was 
a real star salesman. I asked him several times how he sold 
so many cars and how it was that he could sell to a person 
that he did not know until he went after him. He just said, 
‘ ‘ Go after him and stay with him until you sell him. ’ ’ 

I had worked about two months and only sold three cars 
and these were to young fellows that I was personally ac¬ 
quainted with. I was always afraid to talk to big men about 
cars. I mean about buying one. I could tell a man all about 
a car and answer all the objections that he had, and make a 
man like our car and in this way help Mr. Brown make a 
sale, but I could not close the deal. One day Mr. Brown 
came in, looking rather blue and said, “Kid, I have a prospect 
in mind and you have got to sell him. Now listen, I want 
you to make up your mind right now that you are going to 
sell him. What do you say? Do you think you can?” I 
couldn’t think what was the matter with him, so I asked him 
who the prospect was and what was the matter that he 
couldn’t sell him. He told me that it was a man that he had 
had some personal trouble with and also told me that it was 
Mr. Winthrope (not his real name). Then he told me to go 
after him and stay with him until I sold him. Mr. Brown 
said, “Kid, you’ve got to sell him, because if you don’t, I will 







TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 


24 


probably lose the sale that I am now working on.” Now, 
this was very interesting to me. How was I expected to sell a 
cashier of a bank? Just think! A kid of eighteen trying to 
sell a motor car to the cashier of the largest bank in a town 
of abont twelve thousand. 

Well, I fooled around about two days trying to think of 
a plan to meet Mr. Winthrope. Every day Mr. Brown would 
ask me if I had seen him yet. Of course I had to say “no." 
Then he would try to hurry me up and I think that he had 
thought of hiring a salesman to handle that sale. Finally, 1 
hit upon a plan and it seemed all right. 

Mr. Winthrope had a rather good-looking daughter that I 
had been out with quite a few times. I decided to take her 
to a dance that night and ask her father and mother to go 
riding with us the next Sunday afternoon. In this way I 
decided that I would make Mr. Winthrope say something 
about buying a motor car. 

Well, it was all planned out just right. We went riding 
and Mr. Winthrope proved to be a real nice sort of a fellow. 
All the time we were riding I showed the car off but was 
careful not to brag very much. Helen (the daughter) liked 
the car and asked me to do certain things, such as climbing 
big hills on high, throttling it down slow and making it pick 
up fast. Mr. Winthrope mentioned that he had intended to 
buy a car but had not decided what make. Then he asked 
me a thousand questions, more or less, about the car and I 
answered them and added a little each time. Then Helen 
told her father that I was working for the Vernon Motor 
Sales Co. Mr. Winthrope said, “Mr. Brown is manager of 
that company, isn't he.” Then I felt like a brass penny, 
with a hole in it. I finally said “yes,” but my heart was 
heating so fast I don't think that I talked above a whisper. 
Mr. Winthrope then told me that he did something once that 
Brown did not like very much and that he thought it made 
him mad. But he said that he had never had a chance to 
apologize and that he was very sorry that it had happened. 
NOW YOU CAN TELL THE WHOLE WORLD THAT I 
HAD A GRAND AND GLORIOUS FEELING ABOUT 






TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 


25 


THAT TIME. We rode around for the rest of the afternoon 
and I told him all about the car. Then I told him that I was 
going to have a new car oiled and bring it up and sell it to 
him after banking hours the next day. He said that he wasn’t 
quite ready to buy yet, but that he liked the car mighty well 
and that I could bring it up and show it to him. 

I took Helen riding again that night and asked her to work 
on her father all she could. She was more than willing be¬ 
cause she wanted the car. Then the next day I took Helen out 
and taught her how to drive the car and let her drive it up 
to the bank. When her father came out he was surprised to 
see her driving it. He asked her how she liked to drive it 
and she told him that she was crazy about it. Then we went 
out to his house to get his wife. Helen was driving all the 
time, and he watched her like a hawk. We got Mrs. Winthrope, 
and Helen drove around for a while. 

Finally, I asked Mr. Winthrope when he wanted me to 
write the order out. Then here is where Helen came in. She 
said “right now.’ 7 Mr. Winthrope said that he had not de¬ 
cided as yet. Then Helen begged him and wouldn’t give me 
a chance to say anything. He asked his wife how she liked 
it, and, of course, she liked anything that Helen liked. Then 
he said, < ‘ Well, kid, I guess you have sold me a car, they both 
want it and I guess it is the best I can do.” Noiv, believe me, 
1 sure ivas happy but 1 tried not to show it. 

I wrote the order blank out and he signed it and wrote me 
a check to the Yernon Motor Sales Co. I told him that I 
would teach him how to drive any time he wanted me to. He 
asked me to bring the car out that night and tell Helen all 
about it, because he did not want to drive himself. That car 
wouldn’t run fast enough for me to get down and tell Mr. 
Brown about it. Brown told me he knew I could make the 
sale, but he did not think that I would do it in the way I did. 
I took the car out that night and left it. 

The reason I made that sale was because I knew more about 
my car than any other salesman who had talked to him. I 
made him sell the car to himself, with the help of Helen. 
And I STAYED WITH HIM UNTIL I SOLD HIM. 






26 


TALES OP UNUSUAL SALES 


SIX MONTHS TO SELL ONE AUTOMOBILE 

By H. W. Gratlin 

I T WAS back in September of 1916, when I was a retail 
salesman for Bnick in the city of Denver, that late in the 
afternoon of a particularly hot day, two ladies and a 17- 
year-old boy came into the showroom and inquired about a 
touring car. 

I showed everything I had in my shop, and had just about 
decided to invite them into the ‘ ‘ closing room, ’ ’ when Auntie, 
who, it seemed, was to put up the money, turned to the boy 
and said, “Nephew, what do you think?” The boy, who 
hadn’t said a word during the whole time (and this same fact 
caused me much concern), answered in a very surly tone that 
he didn’t think the Buick was nearly so good a car as the 

“- Six,” and suggested that they all take a look at it 

before they did anything further. 

That remark locked my “closing room” door for that day, 
but I was game, so I took them in our demonstrator around 

to the “- Six” showroom, and made an appointment to 

meet them next day, and give my car another tryout. 

Well, to keep this from getting too long—I met them and 
sold the Aunt, who, by the way, was a Miss, and forty-five 
and a school teacher besides, so in convincing her I felt that 
I had overcome every obstacle. But, imagine my chagrin, 
when she said—‘ 1 1 ’ll buy your car if you can get my nephew’s 
consent and support.” 

I immediately began cultivating the nephew, never for a 
moment forgetting the aunt, but meeting her every evening 
after school and giving her an hour lesson, thereby keeping 
my hold on her while trying to convince the hard-headed 
nephew that I was selling the better car of the two. 

I discovered after some questioning that the competitive 
salesman had offered the boy $50.00 if he was successful in 
selling his aunt a car. 







TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 


27 


Now, my company would never stand for that—so I knew 
that I had to win some other way. 

All this time the summer was going, and I had only suc¬ 
ceeded in keeping them from buying the other car, but Ill 
bet I gave the boy 75 lessons in driving and the aunt at 
least 50. 

The aunt asked myself and family over to her house for 
Thanksgiving dinner, and invited the nephew. By this time 
I was getting mad at myself and was more determined than 
ever to sell them a car. 

On Christmas we had them over to our house for dinner, 
and I did not give the boy a thing for Christmas, neither did 
I gain his approval of my car. 

In the meantime, at every opportunity, I was teaching the 
aunt to drive, and she was beginning to wonder whether they 
were going to have a car for the summer of 1917 or not, for 
by this time she was as much interested in my trying to con¬ 
vince the boy as she was in having a car. 

Finally, the last week in January the boy came to me and 
said, “I am convinced that we will never have a car unless 
you leave town or I say Buick, so come on and we will go 
over to aunty’s and get the check,” which we did. She didn’t 
hesitate one moment when he said for her to buy the Buick. 

He told me afterwards that if I had just offered him $10.00, 
he would have given in last fall, for he was sold as far as the 
car was concerned, but it was the money that was bothering 
him. 






28 


TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 


DIDN’T OVERLOOK A POINT 

By E. R. Wohlert 

S EVERAL years ago I was selling a preparation to put 
on the windshields of autos to keep off rain, sleet, and 
snow, and to allow the driver a clear vision while driving 
in bad weather. 

I was working from town to town and every time I had 
an opportunity, I would ride on the electric and give the 
motorman a demonstration. I always carried an atomizer in 
my pocket to produce “rain” in clear weather, but when it 
did rain, I was the busiest man in town. 

The motormen would tell me the name and locality of the 
division superintendent, and when in that town, I would get 
the superintendent to sanction my article. I kept this up 
until I had the sanction of about eleven superintendents. 
However, I did not go out of my way to get these. I did this 
at the same time I was working the town. 

About September the State Fair was on and the “Boss” 
and 1 went down to “work” the Fair but did not succeed as 
well as expected because of weather conditions. We had more 
goods than we knew what to do with. 

The General Manager’s office of the second largest inter- • 
urban in the U. S., and from which I had been getting all the 
sanctions, happened to be in this same town, so I went up 
there to see Mr. Manager. 

The chief clerk wanted to know my reason for calling but 
I would not tell him, so consequently the manager “was not 
in.” However, I still believed he was. Next morning at eight 
o’clock sharp, I was at the office. Mr. Clerk wanted to 
KNOW my business and for not telling him, my “punish¬ 
ment” was that the manager “was busy.” I waited and 
waited until about 11:30 when finally the manager came out. 
He looked at me and said: 





TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 


29 


“Are you waiting to see me? I believe I saw you sitting 
there this morning when I came in.” I replied that I was. 
He invited me into a luxuriously furnished office and then 
said: 

“Funny, the chief clerk never mentioned you.” I told 
him the reason why and also that I knew if he did not see this 
article personally, he would never be able to appreciate it. I 
used his office window with the help of my atomizer, and gave 
him a demonstration. I then showed him the sanctions of 
the Division Superintendents, to which he replied: 

“Young man, you surely went to a lot of trouble to try to 
interest this company, but I don’t think we will invest.” 

“My dear sir,” I said. “I deemed it necessary to go to 
this trouble to interest you as there have been quite a few 
accidents because of windows being blurred, and do you real¬ 
ize that one small accident would cost more than the cost of 

enough - to supply every car you have for years to 

come ? 1 ’ 

The manager said, “Well, looking at it that way,” and so 
we talked on and on until finally he signed the order which, 
in reality, was enough goods to supply every car for ten years. 

About this time he turned around, looked me square in the 
.eye, and exclaimed, “Young man, do you know what you have 
done?” I said, frightened: 

“Why, no, sir.” 

“Well,” he continued, “you so wrapped me up in your 
goods that I did something that I have been trying to stop 
ever since I have been General Manager, and that is, that 

w r e have a Purchasing Agent at- and he is to do all 

the buying.” So I had to resell him and I started something 
like this: 

“Why, my dear sir. You would not want to wait until I 
may have the opportunity to go there, which may be weeks 
and weeks, and in the meantime you may have several very 
severe and costly accidents because of the windows being 
blurred and preventing the motormen from seeing. Now, I 
can deliver these goods right here to headquarters and distri- 








30 


TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 


bution being made from here, you can give me a check and 
no one need know. It’s a cinch the trainmen would not say 
anything as they would probably be only too glad to get this 
preparation. ’ ’ 

The result was that he finally let me deliver the goods 
direct to headquarters and allowed me to photograph the 
check as a leverage for making future sales. 

Then he looked at his watch and exclaimed: ‘ 4 Here it is 
2:30 and I had a luncheon engagement at 12 :00 and a golf 
engagement at 2:00. You’re the first man that ever made me 
miss an engagement and especially a salesman.” 

I had learned before hand that golf was this man’s hobby 
so the first thing I talked about when I was invited into his 
office was golf, thereby winning a point of contact. 

I only made $75 commission on that sale. I have made 
quite a good deal more on other sales, but always held this 
sale as the best one I ever made. 





TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 


31 


OVERCAME MANY OBSTACLES 

By S. B. Morris 

A LITTLE over a year ago I called on a brick manu¬ 
facturing plant in Zanesville, Ohio, and broke a bar of 
babbitt metal in the presence of the superintendent, and 
showed him a serious defect, viz., a blow hole (this being a 
defect in babbitt manufacture that is common). 

He said he would return the shipment to the jobber he had 
purchased it from and then gave me an order. In making the 
sale, the jobber’s salesman had told the superintendent that 
my company was making the babbitt metal for his company, 
which wasn’t a fact. 

Now, it so happened that the jobber who was located in 
Columbus, Ohio, was selling our metal, but was not buying 
all of it from me. 

When I got to Columbus I gave the order from the brick 
concern to my jobber. 

But on a subsequent visit to the jobber I was called on the 
carpet. The purchasing agent told me that his salesman was 
angry on account of the metal deal in Zanesville, Ohio, and 
also that they had lost an order of $3,000 on other material 
because of it. Then I was told that I was through, and that 
they would never buy again from me. 

I wondered how I was going to proceed as I did not want 
to lose my connection. I decided to go to Zanesville and learn 
the exact reason why the $3,000 worth of business went else¬ 
where than to Columbus. 

The purchasing agent of the brick company told me he 
did not return the babbitt, and that the reason the jobber did 
not get the $3,000 order was because they could not ship at 
once from stock, as the goods were needed immediately. 

I felt pretty good at this turn of events and retraced my 
steps to Columbus. I told my jobbers what I had learned, 






32 TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 


and that there was absolutely no blame attached to me, and 
that I had acted truthfully and honorably all through and 
expected orders when they were again in the market. But I 
didn’t get any satisfaction at this time. 

Three months later I was again in Columbus. I met the 
jobber ’s salesman and told him my side of it, and that I had 
done the square thing all through. Then I asked him to 
intercede for me with the purchasing agent of his concern and 
give me a clean slate and like the good fellow he was, “he 
seen his duty and done it. ’ ’ 

Later the purchasing agent called me in his office, looked 
at me and said, “Don’t feel so bad, we’ll buy from you 
again.” 

I have been selling them ever since, but I want to say it 
was the hardest battle I ever was in, as so many different 
things arose and I had to satisfy all parties. 





33 


TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 


RESOLD A DISGRUNTLED PROSPECT 

By C. H. F. 

I N LOOKING back over quite a long career of selling to 
find the “Best Sale You Ever Made” I feel that one 
made to a bank in one of the Rocky Mountain States 
stands out as the best one, in that it combined practically 
every element of salesmanship. 

Some years ago, before bookkeeping machines came into 
general usage in banks, I was selling a general line of bank 
supplies for a house which had acquired the patent rights on 
an individual ledger system for banks. This system used only 
the active accounts (those which had a change) for finding 
the day’s balance, and was an improvement over most systems 
then in general use. 

My predecessor in the territory was very anxious to place 
this in as many banks as possible because he was thoroughly 
sold on its possibilities, and rightly, too, however, his en¬ 
thusiasm got the better of his judgment and he sold the bank 
in question this system for use with their Inactive accounts, 
and naturally, it being a strictly Active account ledger, the 
bank threw it out. 

Upon one of my calls to this bank after the cashier had 
given me several items, he said, “That’s all unless you have 
some other ledger system than that blank thing—which we 
had to throw out.” I said, “Mr. Jones, I have the finest 
ledger system on the market today, would be delighted to show 
it to you now, but suggest that you give me an appointment 
this afternoon when the bookkeepers can be present, because, 
after all, they are the ones who have to use it.” He said, 
“That’s a good idea; come in at 3:30 p. m., I will have them 
all in the directors’ room, and will give you an hour to explain 
your system.” 

At 3:30 that afternoon, after getting everybody comfortably 
seated, I opened my case and laid out the system. It was 






34 TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 


really laughable to see the expression on that cashier’s face 
as he realized that it was the one they had thrown out. He 
said, “You’ve got your nerve—bringing that blank, blank 
thing in here after what I told you this morning. ’ ’ I replied, 
“Mr. Jones, you gave me this hour to explain what I said 
was the finest ledger system on the market today, if I choose 
to demonstrate something that your bank has found imprac¬ 
ticable because of the error of an over-zealous salesman, then 
I’m gambling my time and profit against yours, and I assure 
you I would not do so unless I was thoroughly convinced of 
the practicability of this system.” He said, “That’s fair, 
but I tell you you’ll have to go some to convince us on that 
thing, so go ahead. ’ ’ 

It was plain to be seen that the bookkeepers were of the 
same mind as the cashier, so it looked like a forlorn hope. 
However, I commenced to carefully explain the system, being 
sure that each point got home, carrying along the demonstra¬ 
tion in the most logical manner at my command. When I 
finished the demonstration I asked each individual bookkeeper 
if he understood it. After clearing up any point that was 
not clear to them I asked them point blank if they thought 
that the system would do what I claimed it would. They 
all more or less grudgingly admitted that it would. 

Then turning to Mr. Jones, I said, “Isn’t it a fact that you 
are looking for a new system because the one you now use 
takes up so much time that you are up to the point of putting 
on an additional bookkeeper?” When he admitted this, I 
said, “Your posting can be done in at least one-third of the 
time it now takes and I feel I’d be safe in saying 50 per cent. 
Your bookkeepers will be through by 4 o’clock every day and 
when you or the other officers of the bank want to look up 
an account you can do it in half the time it now takes. The 
reason this system failed in this bank is because it was in¬ 
stalled for the Inactive accounts when it is fundamentally an 
Active Account Ledger.” 

After considerable argument back and forth between the 
bookkeepers and the cashiers, I walked out of the bank at 





TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 35 


5:30 p. m. with a large order for that system, which was duly 
installed and gave complete satisfaction. 

This sale, in my opinion, covered all the points of Salesman¬ 
ship. First, faith in my line; second, knowledge of my line; 
third, by these overcoming a had hazard; fourth, by demon¬ 
stration, creating the desire; fifth, proper closing. It “can 
be done”; it’s up to the salesman to find the way. 





36 


TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 


SOLD AN ATHEIST A BIBLE 

By F. M. Riley 

1 BELIEVE one of the best sales I ever made was made in 
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, in 1918. I was taking a busi¬ 
ness course, and on Saturdays for a while I sold bibles. 
I planned out my canvass with the help of the publishing 
company and after lining up a number of prospects I started 
out. My prospects were those who were teaching in Sunday 
School or taking an active part in church work in some way. 
I called at the home of a lady, who was teaching in Sunday 
School, and was very active in the church life. 

Calling at her home and knocking on the door, a tall savage 
looking fellow flung the door open and hailed, “What do you 
want, sir?” I went in and answered him by telling him I 
was looking for Mrs. Smith, a teacher in a certain Sunday 
School. He said, “My wife is not at home this evening. 
You may call and see her tomorrow.” 

I said, “Mr. Smith, I am selling a very fine bible, and I 
understand your wife is very much devoted to bible study and 
Christian work. I would like to get your order for a nice 
bible for your wife. Mr. Smith, don’t you think Mrs. Smith 
would appreciate this surprise?” 

He said, ‘ ‘ Young man, you have your nerve. Do you know 
to whom you are talking?” 

I said, ‘ ‘ I presume I am talking to Mr. Fred Smith. ’ ’ 

He said, “Yes, and a railroad man besides. I’ve been an 
engineer on the Frisco Lines for more than twenty years, and 
I never have been guilty of opening a bible or reading a word 
in one in that twenty years.” 

I said, “Mr. Smith, aren’t you sorry your wife is a Chris¬ 
tian wife? Aren’t you sorry she is a Christian mother for 
your little children? Aren’t you ashamed for her that she in 
her soul recognizes the maker of herself and you and your 





TALES OP UNUSUAL SALES 


37 


own children? Wouldn’t you feel grateful if she lived the 
life, thought the thoughts, and did the things that you do, 
that she might be a better mother ? ’ ’ 

He said, “No. I have the best little wife in all this world, 
but I don’t believe as she does.” 

I said, “Mr. Smith, do you believe your wife would appre¬ 
ciate a beautiful bible with the most wonderful helps in¬ 
cluded in it for study that is known? I want to show you 
something. Sit down here for just about five minutes.” 

He did, through curiosity or something. I showed him how 
the references were run. I showed him how many Johns, 
how many Marys and how many Josephs there were in the 
bible. I showed him what the bible said about farmers, mer¬ 
chants, lawyers, what it said about divorce, love, faith. I 
then said: 

“Now, you are a railroad man. Is the air brake as good 
as the hand ? Is the oil burner as good as the old style wood 
burners, etc.?” I continued, “Now, these extra helps you see 
here are simply improvements for the convenience of the 
teacher.” Mr. Smtih studied a moment and said: 

“Give me one of those $12.00 ones, the best thing you have. 
I’ll surprise my wife once. I am glad you came in, and I’m 
glad you didn’t take ‘No’ for an answer.” 

I got the order and left him a happy man. 





38 TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 


STRATEGY IN SELLING BOOKS 

By Elizabeth Buck 

L AST winter, chance and necessity combined to draw me 
into the field of salesmanship. My particular article 
of merchandise was a well-edited one-volume student’s 
encyclopaedia. After a brief period of training the sales man¬ 
ager assigned me territory in my home city, and I went forth 
to look for orders. 

It would be hard for me to describe my bewilderment dur¬ 
ing my first few days in the field. Ringing a doorbell at the 
home of a stranger, introducing myself and my goods, expand¬ 
ing the merits of the article, studying the countenance of the 
other to note how my talk was being received, guarding 
against being sidetracked from my theme, deciding the oppor¬ 
tune moment to inveigle the customer to sign the order blank 
—it was all new to me. It seems hardly necessary to remark 
that I had approached a number of customers before a chance 
came for me to flash the order blank, and then—but perhaps 
it would be well for me to tell about it in an orderly way. 

In my district there was much unemployment. At about 
half the homes where I called the man of the house opened 
the door in response to my signal. I soon came to regard this 
as a sign that in that home there was no income. Whenever 
a man admitted me, although I never in such a case asked to 
see the wife, he invariably brought her to interview me and 
then retired discreetly, usually out of sight, but never out of 
hearing. Often the man considered it a point of vantage to 
station himself directly behind me, anywhere from twelve to 
twenty-five feet in the rear. Thus while I addressed myself 
directly to the woman, assuming that she was a possible pur¬ 
chaser, I knew all the time that my real adversary was behind 
my back and ready to flash a wireless message to his wife if 
she showed signs of wavering. I leave it to any experienced 
salesman to say if such a situation is favorable to the making 
of a sale. 





TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 


39 


When I called at a home where the woman was alone an¬ 
other difficulty confronted me. With husband away the lady 
was generally more responsive. She almost always conceded 
the merits of the work, and often she expressed a wish to 
own it. Decide, however, she would not until after husband 
had been consulted. I soon learned the futility of going back 
next day or next week, and I came to look upon husbands as 
professional sales-killers. Who said house-to-house selling 
was easy work ? 

Came the morning when I called at the Stillman home. 
Mr. Stillman admitted me and, true to form, he conducted me 
into his wife’s presence, then retired to the adjoining room 
to listen. 

Without loss of time I delivered my introductory remarks 
according to ritual. I did not proceed far, however, until my 
use of the phrase “aid to education” lured the gentleman 
from his hiding place. 

“Do you want to know what I think about all this educa¬ 
tion business?” he inquired, re-entering the room with a light 
of anger in his eyes. ‘ ‘ There’s too much education now with¬ 
out handing out any more of it. This town is full of college 
guys trying to bum a meal because they are too lazy to hold 
a job. If I had my way I would put half of the schools out 
of business and then cut out half of the stuff they teach in 
the other half. If a boy ever hopes to be of any use in the 
world let him keep away from high schools and colleges. ’ ’ 

The man had spoken. 

“No chance of making a sale here,” thought I. 

My first impulse was to retreat. That would have been 
both cowardly and undignified. Besides, the man’s point of 
view interested me. Forgetting for the time being the busi¬ 
ness which I had in hand, I entered into a discussion with 
Mr. Stillmlan. There was a measure of truth in what he said. 
Many college graduates are unsuccessful. Much of our edu¬ 
cation is misdirected. More than a few potential mechanics 
have been spoiled by having been persuaded to try to become 
lawyers or doctors. By our present day methods of educa¬ 
tion these mistakes are easily avoided. Vocational guidance 





40 TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 


is the underlying principle of the new system. It must be 
admitted that a man whose mind is stored with a wealth of 
general knowledge and also with the technical knowledge of 
his chosen craft will make a, more competent workman than 
the one who cannot work without constant supervision. 

The talk drifted into other channels. We discussed trade 
unions, civic affairs and immigration. A pleasant hour 
passed, during which I saw myself constantly rising in this 
man’s esteem. At last he arose and, extending his hand, told 
me how much he had enjoyed talking to me, but would I ex¬ 
cuse him ? He was a railroad man, had to go out on the road 
in an hour, and there was just enough time left for him to 
shave before leaving. Would I excuse him? Of course I 
would. 

“So this man has a job,” thought I. 

Then I turned my attention to the little wife. She had been 
present all the time, silent but interested. My purpose was 
to sell a book. I returned to my ritual. Mindful of the fact 
that a good safety razor will mow a large area of cuticle in a 
surprisingly short time, I talked rapidly. Mr. Stillman had 
inspired me, so that I also talked well. I delivered my canned 
talk with zest. 

When the point of securing the order was reached, Mrs. 
Stillman could not say as had the others: “See my hus¬ 
band. ’ ’ I had already seen him. And, what was of still more 
importance, she had seen him see me. Unhesitatingly she 
placed her name on the dotted line. There still remained one 
difficulty. She had to interrupt husband’s shaving to get the 
necessary deposit. He was, I believe, staggered when she 
made the demand. I had not attempted to interest him in 
my work, and when he left the room, I have no doubt, he 
thought he had dismissed me. Now while I sat alone with 
my eyes focused on the signed order, there came to my ears 
the low steady murmur of a suppressed argument. Mrs. Still¬ 
man won. I had proof of this a moment later when she 
handed a five dollar bill to me. 

Elated I left the house. I had made my first sale. I had 
executed it by strategy. 





TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 


41 


KNEW HIS MAN 

By Dan W. Brooks 

A BOUT a year ago I was selling future canned goods and 
had so much faith in my line, and was so thoroughly 
sold on it myself, that I believed I could sell the Presi¬ 
dent of the United States. 

I do not class myself as a “real” salesman, but understand 
human nature and am a good judge of men, observing each 
customer very closely. I have found that you can get an 
order from some men by swearing at them, and others by 
reciting a verse or extract from the Bible. Know your man! 

I went to work a good-sized town which one of our men 
had canvassed a few weeks previous, and it happened that he 
left all the “hard nuts” for me to crack. I was working 
through a jobber and up to this particular Friday afternoon 
I had sold one thousand fourteen cases and needed but one 
hundred more to top the sales list, which I did. 

I asked the jobber if our man had sold Mr. Camp, to which 
he replied: “No, and neither will you.” He asked me not 
to call on him for fear I might make him angry at the house, 
but I promised not to hurt Mr. Camp’s feelings in any way 
and simply asked permission to pay him a friendly call. This 
permission was granted. I did not know anything about this 
man, merely that he was a big buyer, in fact, I had never seen 
him before my visit. 

When I called there happened to be another salesman being 
interviewed, and I was very glad as I wanted to study my 
man and observe all I could. I saw at once that he was a man 
of his word and if I once gave him a chance to say “no,” I 
was through. 

The salesman left and I walked up to Mr. Camp’s desk 
and introduced myself. He got up, shook hands with me 
and stood by my side talking. I did not give him a chance to 
tell me he was not buying anything. I explained that I under- 





42 TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 


stood he was not in the buying market, and he then volun¬ 
teered the information that they were moving their grocery 
department and had not yet checked up their stock. I imme¬ 
diately changed the subject to a friendly conversation and 
when it was time for me to leave I put my hand on his 
shoulder and said: 

“Mr. Camp, I am a new man with this firm and out on a 
two weeks’ trial before my salary is set.” This was the truth, 
and I continued, ‘ ‘ I have sold over one thousand cases so far 
this week and am working hard for first place on the sales 
force. Now, some of my goods you are going to need. What 
about a hundred cases of our Golden Bantam corn?” 
Promptly he replied: 

“All right, you can send me a hundred cases of corn.” 
Of course, this man should have bought at least five hundred 
cases of my line, but I knew enough not to mention another 
item or he would have cancelled the hundred case order. 

You might not call this good Salesmanship, but it’s “bring¬ 
ing home the bacon” where others failed and I did not have 
to lie about it either. You see, I had to know my man and 
know how to handle him. I doubt if one man out of a hun¬ 
dred would have handled this man as easily and walked out 
with the order. 






TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 


43 


IT WASN'T SO EASY 

By J. G. Gangel 

I AM a free lance specialty salesman, taking commission to 
sell difficult customers whom their regular salesmen have 
been unable to interest, so nearly every week I am selling 
a different product or service. 

I made a sale of cash registers that I consider my best sale. 
It is briefly as follows: The manager told me that they sold 
a 5 and 10-cent store fifty $47.00 cash registers when he 
opened business about 18 months ago, and ever since their 
salesmen had tried to replace these cheap registers for a ma¬ 
chine that sold for $97.00. This latter machine slung out a 
receipt with each sale and on the back of the receipt was an 
advertisement of the business. My task here was to replace 
the cheap machines, secure a $2,500.00 increase in the sale, 
and every man on their local sales force said that it couldn’t 
be done. 

Mr. - was the proprietor of the store, which con¬ 

sisted of three floors, with about 30 clerks to a floor. With 

this information in hand I approached Mr.-and told 

him that I was securing information first hand regarding 
improvements on cash registers and also the actual placing 
and use in stores of different models of registers. 

I exhibited a photo of >a handsome $1,200.00 mahogany 
finished machine, which contains some 8 or 10 drawers for 
individual clerks. Why not replace your cheap machines for 
three of these large machines, place one in the center of each 
floor, and thus centralize your cash receipts to only one point, 
and besides give each customer a receipt for his purchase 
together with an advertisement of your store, like this. 

Mr.- ’& reply was just to my liking, he said: ‘ ‘ That 

would never do, the clerks would get all jammed together at 
the register when we were busy, and another thing, the loss 
from petty thieves would be greater; for instance who would 









44 


TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 


watch the candy counter when the girl was to the center of 
the store trying to get to her proper drawer to make change ? 
It would never work.” 

I immediately handed him the receipt issued by the register 
and followed up with, you will agree with me that this receipt 
is a dandy thing, won’t you, both as to giving each purchaser 
an exact record of his buy as well as the value of the adver¬ 
tisement of your iirm on the back thereof. He agreed that 
was fine, then I explained to him that we had an individual 
model something like the registers that he was using, but that 
this better individual model also slung out a receipt exactly 
as did the high-priced machine, and I am sure that I can get 
one of our national advertisers to gladly pay for the difference 
in cost, if you will agree to give him the privilege of printing 
his advertisement thereon. His objection was to the point. 
He said: “No indeed I wouldn’t consider advertising an¬ 
other man’s business that way for him. ’ ’ 

Then I talked advertising and advertising values to him. 
I showed him that for only $2,500.00 we would install new 
machines with the complete check slinging system, spread out 
in small monthly payments, together with his own advertise¬ 
ment on each receipt, and that he could well afford to charge 
the cost up to advertising at $100.00 a month. “Not a drop 
in the bucket, is it, Mr.-?” 

I did not try to close at this time, but made an appoint¬ 
ment to bring out the next morning the new model individual 
register and show him the details of the check receipt system 
and how easy it was to operate. 

That night I had the register sales manager print up an 
actual roll of receipts, complete in every way with a good 
strong advertisement of the store. 

The demonstration at the store the next morning took less 
than 30 minutes, and an hour later I walked out with a signed 
application for the fifty new registers, total cost $2,500.00, 
payable on terms of $100.00 a month. 

Selling is like any other sport. You must know how. 






TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 


45 


SELLING STOCK AND CASKETS 

By C. C. French 

S OME time ago I was engaged in enrolling students for a 
school in salesmanship, in the southern states, and on 
arriving in the city of Memphis, Tennessee, it was neces¬ 
sary for me to build up my own audiences, and then enroll as 
many as possible, having the good fortune of enrolling some 
twenty-five men at one time. 

I found that the men insisted on my setting up a class 
and instructing it. It was while engaged in one of the lessons 
that several of the students got together and decided they 
would like to put me to a real test and see just how I would 
sell something they had some knowledge of, so they stated. 

One of them, being the manager of a recently organized 
casket and coffin factory which still had some stock for sale, 
and knowing how tight money was about that time, requested 
the others to offer his proposition to me to sell and see just 
what I could do. 

It was impossible for me to refuse to give it a try, so 
naturally I accepted. In accepting the proposition, the 
manager of the factory stated that a convention of under¬ 
takers and embalmers would take place the following week 
and that he would leave the sale of stock in my hands to handle 
entirely as I saw fit. I immediately set to work mapping out 
how I would handle the situation, and a day or two before 
the opening of the convention, I called on the manager of 
the factory and gave him an outline of my plans. I told 
him to get the factory in tip-top shape and arrange with the 
local undertakers for them to take the visitors on a sight-see¬ 
ing trip the opening day and show them through the factory, 
never mentioning the sale of stock. He did exactly as I re¬ 
quested. 

The second day I arranged for an expert to give a 
demonstration in embalming in the factory, at the same time 





46 


TALES OP UNUSUAL SALES 


explaining some things about the work and finish of caskets. 
On the night of the second day a banquet was held in a 
local school, and a very high grade and inspirational speaker 
addressed the convention. It was during the banquet that 
I requested to be introduced and planned to put over my sale. 
I was introduced as a young man of special training and con¬ 
ducting a class in salesmanship in one of the local schools and 
that I would have a few words to say. 

I opened up by asking how many present thought such a 
factory as the local casket factory should be kept in existence, 
and as I expected everyone answered “Yes.” I then told 
them that in order for the factory to keep going it had to 
have an outlet for its goods, and since they were all in busi¬ 
ness as undertakers, forty-two of whom were present, that I 
thought if each agreed to take six caskets a month for the 
next six months that the factory could live and grow, and 
at the same time would not be causing each of them to make 
any special effort to handle same, and at the most would 
only be sharing a small portion of their regular business with 
the new factory. After answering a few questions in regard 
to how the goods could be paid for and the different sizes, etc., 
the body present thought it was a very good plan and accepted 
it, making a sale for 1,512 caskets in one order and assuring 
the factory of a nice output for six months and the heads a 
nice list of good customers. 

After closing the casket order, I turned next to the stock, 
telling them that the company had some of its stock still for 
sale, and as they had purchased the goods why not share in 
the profits and also make sure the factory delivered the goods 
by becoming a part of it, through the purchase of some of its 
stock. After explaining some of the details of the proposition, 
I closed the 42 undertakers and received their checks for 
$10,000 worth of stock and the option on that much more, 
which was a pretty fair deal, don’t you think? 




TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 


47 


BUILT CONFIDENCE TO WIN 

By William H. Clark 

B EFORE I called on this firm I had ascertained that all 
purchases were made on the recommendation of the 
superintendent. Accordingly I had the advantage of 
speaking to the man who would use my product. 

But when I presented my card he threw up his hands in 
mock despair. “I don’t want to waste your time nor mine,” 
he said, “exactly eighteen foundries have tried to make these 
castings and it has cost us a lot of money and, worse still, 
the balance of production has been upset, as in every case 
but one the goods were absolutely unsuited to our purpose.” 

‘ ‘ Mr.-, ’ ’ I replied, “ if I cannot sell you castings that 

will increase your production through removing the delays 
caused by unsatisfactory material I am doing neither of us 
a service. I do not want this one order,—I am after your 
entire and permanent business. Will you spare me the time 
to show me exactly what is required of your castings, not only 
in their ultimate use but also in the process of machining ? ’ ’ 

“You are the first Foundryman who has asked that,” smil¬ 
ingly returned Mr.-, ‘ ‘ I guess I can put my time 

against yours—what are your prices, rock bottom?” “If I 
gave you my price now,” I answered, “it would be high 
enough to protect myself, a mere shot in the dark. Had we 
not better wait until you have shown me just what you re¬ 
quire?” 

A quick turn through the plant and with mental notes as 
to the process of manufacture enabled me to decide just what 
was needed and that I could supply that needed to a “T.” 
I named my price, adding, “And that you may compare my 
price more favorably, with that of my competitor this price 
is F. 0. B. your factory.” Incidentally I might state that I 
always determined the cost of transportation to the factory 
of any prospect. Many an order is lost by uncertainty in the 










48 TALES OP UNUSUAL SALES 


mind of the P. A. as to costs of transportation. With this 
item included in the cost he usually looks more favorably on 
whatever proposition one has to offer. 

“Your price is just what we are paying now, plus trans¬ 
portation,’ 7 he told me, “that makes you higher, though if 
I knew you could give us even a ninety per cent perfect article 
I would not consider that but I cannot afford to experi¬ 
ment. You may have absolute confidence in your product— 
but I do not KNOW—it is too much of a risk. We are stand¬ 
ing nearly a fifteen per cent loss as it is. ’ ’ 

I knew I had the goods but how to persuade my prospect 
was the question. I took a long chance—yet it was not a 

chance either as I was sure of my ground. “Mr.-,” I 

said slowly, “this is my proposition. Let me make you this 
order, which will amount to about $800.00, if you have any 
loss in machining I will not only allow you to return the de¬ 
fective pieces but will honor your bill for your usual overhead 
on the work, plus a 10% profit.” He looked at me sharply. 
“Will you confirm that in a letter when you get home?” 
“No,” I replied, “but if you will take me to your office I 
will confirm it here and now, ’ ’ and I pulled out a sheet of my 
firm’s stationery from my case; I never travel without a 
supply as I believe that quotations should be confirmed on 
the spot. 

After the stenographer had rolled the typewritten sheet 
from her machine and I had made it good with my signature 
I handed it to the superintendent. “Excuse me for a 
moment, ’ ’ he said, as he turned to the door marked ‘ ‘ General 
Manager.” Within a few minutes he returned and handed 
me the order I so much desired. 

I might add that we have never had to make a replacement 
for this firm. 






TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 


49 


A BUSINESS BUILDING IDEA 

By Robert P. Paul 

S OME years ago I was special representative for a large 
national manufacturer of cement, and let me say right 
here for the benefit of those who are used to selling their 
products on price that this is one specialty where price does 
not count, as the prices of cement are all the same. 

It was up to me to open up new accounts in the territory 
and one can readily see that since I could not talk price and 
could only talk quality and delivery, that it was not an easy 
matter to change a dealer over from one of our competitors. 

However it occurred to me that the thing that any dealer 
is interested in regardless of the line he is handling, is, 
BUILDING BIGGER BUSINESS and MAKING MORE 
MONEY. 

My company therefore set about to devise a plan whereby 
we could increase the dealer’s business and offer him some¬ 
thing that our competitors were not giving him. 

I picked out ten dealers that were not handling our line 
to try this plan out on. You can imagine the difficulty I 
was up against, as all of these dealers had been handling our 
competitor’s line for years, had received courteous treatment, 
prompt service, and had no vital reason for making a change 
to our line. 

After listening to all of the arguments that one dealer had 
as to why he did not care to make a change, I asked him this 
question: “ARE YOU INTERESTED IN INCREASING 
YOUR BUSINESS AND MAKING MORE MONEY?” 

He had to say YES, because every real business man in 
America has to say yes to this question. 

Then I opened up on him. You know, Mr. Blank, there are 
a lot of prospects right here in your vicinity for cement and 





50 


TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 


other building material that you are handling, but you are 
not selling them ? WHY ? 

If you stopped to call on these prospects personally, you 
would never get around. If you called them on the telephone 
you could reach a greater number of them, but then you could 
not reach all of them. How can you reach them?—By an 
individual method suited to your particular business. By 
this individual method, I mean ADVERTISE. Not Bill¬ 
boards or whole page ads in the newspapers, but by this 
special method which I have prepared for you. 

By this time the dealer’s curiosity was aroused, and he was 
anxious to see what I had prepared for him. I had the com¬ 
plete plan in a sales binder with the dealer’s name printed 
on the outside and I spread this before him, going carefully 
into detail, showing him the cuts we supplied free to his 
newspaper (and by the way I had made it a point to call at 
the newspaper office to see if he did any advertising, the size 
of space he took, rates, etc.), and as our cuts were very snappy 
and did not contain any of the old out of date stereotyped 
advertising, I found that the dealer was very interested. Of 
course he wanted to know how much it was going to cost him 
to run these cuts and I was able to give him first hand in¬ 
formation since I had secured this at the office. 

I next showed the dealer what we were doing in a national 
way, which would all hook up with what he could do locally. 
In fact I gave him the exact number of circulation of each and 
every magazine in which we were advertising in his territory 
so that he knew the number of ads that were going to his 
prospects. 

Then I showed him the beautiful art colored booklets we 
would send out to a list of prospects which he was to furnish 
us and the series of sales follow-up letters. All of this work 
we did for the dealer without one cent of cost to him, all that 
he was to furnish was his own letterheads and envelopes and 
pay for the postage. 

Here was a plan where the dealer could increase his busi¬ 
ness without doing any of the work or detail and without a 
cent of cost to him. 





TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 51 


Did I get his name on the dotted line ? WELL, I SHOULD 
SAY SO—and an order for a car of cement also, as the dealer 
wanted to be able to deliver when the calls for our product 
came in. 





52 


TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 


USED TASTE AND TACT WITH SAMPLES 

By J. W. ZlEGFELD 

1 HAYE traveled for twenty-seven years, and during this 
period, I have experienced a number of times what I think 
the best sale I ever made. 

The one that presents itself most forcibly in my mind is of 
a company that had nine stores in the Pittsburgh, Pennsyl¬ 
vania, region. The head officials decided to have but one 
Purchasing Agent. 

As I represented a jobbing house from Baltimore, the 
freight rate and distance I sized up as a 99% proposition 
against me. I just had enough conceit in my Salesmanship 
ability to tackle that 1% chance. I knew I had some work 
before me. My first step was to get acquainted with the Gen¬ 
eral Manager of all the stores, socially. This I succeeded in 
doing in a very short- time, and I found him to be a tip-top 
fellow. 

Through our conversation, naturally, I informed him of 
my line and who I was representing. Finally, I made an 
appointment to see him next day at his office at 11 A. M. 
to meet the Purchasing Agent. 

The following morning just as the town clock was striking 
eleven, I presented my card to the clerk in the corridor. At 
the last stroke of eleven I was shaking hands with the Gen¬ 
eral Store Manager. After a few words of greeting, I was 
introduced to the Purchasing Agent, and told him where I 
was from, and who I represented. 

I was satisfied that I would have a great many questions 
to answer. But I did not think that I was going through a 
grilling, and the third degree. I got it good and proper. T 
looked him in the eye and answered him frankly. I made up 
my mind to win. After a fifteen minutes talk, he informed 
me that in two weeks from the following Thursday the Pitts- 





TALES OP UNUSUAL SALES 53 


burgh houses, as well as some from New York and Phila¬ 
delphia, would have representatives at the hotel—where he 
would see them and decide where he would make his pur¬ 
chases, and if I wanted to take a chance, I could be there but 
he could not give me much encouragement. I thanked him 
for the opportunity and said I would be there. 

I made a bee-line for the hotel and made reservations for 
the largest sample rooms they had. And it’s a good thing 
I did, or I would have been left out in the cold as far as a 
sample room was concerned. So I worked in the surround¬ 
ing territory for the following two weeks. I arrived in town 
one day before the appointed time. The hotel looked like 
bedlam had broken loose. Alive with salesmen in every line 
from soup to nuts. Some of the salesmen had an extra man, 
probably the heads of their concerns with them to make an 
impression. I was alone and the only house from Baltimore. 

The fight was on. 

The one thing in my favor was that I had a large room. 
I could make a nifty display. ,When I got through displaying 
my samples, which consisted of ladies and gents ready-to-wear, 
furnishings and notions, my room looked like a live, up-to- 
date salesroom, all samples being displayed to good advantage. 
Thursday morning at eight o’clock the General Store Man¬ 
ager and the Purchasing Agent arrived. They were greeted 
by every salesman representing the different houses. 

They went through every line. I waited in my room 
patiently. Time was hanging heavy on me. The suspense 
was great. Would I be successful? 

I smoked cigars, read, paced up and down my room. Lunch 
time came around. I got a bite, back to my room. One, two, 
three, four, five, six o’clock and still I was waiting. At last 
six-thirty. I was the last one to be seen. I had all the lights 
on. Then they entered my room, and as they did, I. saw their 
expression of surprise. It was a tonic to see my line. 

The Purchasing Agent remarked, “Why, this is the best 
looking line we have seen today.” I just partly showed them 
through my line. Told them that their orders would have 
right-of-way service, etc. Mr. Purchasing Agent said: 





TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 


54 


“We will be here in the morning after eight o’clock to do 
our buying. ’ ’ I sold them my line as long as I stayed on the 
road, which made me a jim-dandy account. 

I believe the way I had my goods displayed had just as 
much to do with the clinching of the account as my line of 
talk. 





TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 


55 


TOUGH SLEDDING BEFORE THE SALE 

By Raymond Wilson 

I N going back over my years of selling, I believe the best 
sale I ever made was over twenty years ago, when I first 
started in the selling game. In those days perhaps I was 
a better ‘‘traveler’’ than a salesman—sometimes there’s a 
difference. At any rate, a personal friend of mine—Mr. 
Meade—was city salesman in Toronto for a manufacturer of 
men’s furnishings. He was leaving on a road trip and recom¬ 
mended me for the job as city salesman. I started out after 
a brief training on the merits of the merchandise. 

A retailer who had been one of the firm’s best customers 
got peeved about a certain deal, and vowed he would never 
again buy this particular brand of goods under any considera¬ 
tion—although he was a particular friend of Mr. Meade. I 
did not know this when I started out, so on my first trip 
around I fell into the “lion’s mouth.” Just at that time 
Mr. Retailer was suffering with a bad attack of gout, and 
was all run down generally. Besides, business was bad. 

My version of a salesman then was not what it is now. I 
thought I had to do all the talking in order to succeed. I 
talked and talked about the goods, but the customer did not 
even attempt to say a word. To him I was not a salesman, 
but his adversary on whom he wanted to jump as soon as he 
got sore enough. I began to think I was not working fast 
enough, so I placed my order book on his counter. That was 
the blow that killed father. He yelled “PACK THAT GRIP 
AND GET OUT BEFORE YOU GO OUT ON YOUR 
HEAD.” I replied: “Mr. Daniels, I am going to pack my 
grip and I am going to WALK OUT; you’re not going to 
hurry me any. ’ ’ After my grip was packed I started for the 
door, and noticed his wife standing at the end of the counter. 
I smiled—raised my hat—said good morning and walked out. 

When I got to the factory that evening I related my 








56 


TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 


experience. The boss said “let him go, we don’t want his 
trade anyway. There are lots more retailers.” Although 
feeling cut about the way he treated me, I wanted his trade. 
I passed him up every week, and when my friend returned 
from his trip I invited him to take a walk in the district 
where Mr. D. had his store—not saying a word about my 
experience. I knew Mr. Meade would want to see him as a 
friend. When we got to the store Meade said “let’s go and 
see Mr. Daniels.” I said “all right, just a minute, you can 
talk to Daniels while I get a few things from Mrs. Daniels.” 
It was on a Saturday night and they were fairly busy in the 
store. I got my ties and other things while the men talked. 
Then we left the store and went home. Not a word was said 
by either party about the fracas. 

During the following week I passed the store several times 
and always saw Mrs. D. or her daughter in the store, but not 
Mr. D. Finally, towards the end of the week I went in and 
asked for the same kind of a silk tie that I purchased the 
week before, only in a different color. While there Mrs. D. 
said her husband was very ill, and they did not know what 
to do for Saturday help. I volunteered to help her out until 
her husband was over his sickness. He was very sick for 
over four weeks, and I was on the job every Saturday. I sug¬ 
gested certain plans for increasing the business, and they 
proved successful. Ultimately the stock was becoming 
depleted and Mrs. D. did not know what to order nor how to 
buy. (Her husband had a high fever and could not be dis¬ 
turbed.) I made up the purchase list and she asked me if 
I would supply the stock from our factory. I firmly, but 
politely, declined, stating that “I would not accept an order 
under the circumstances, nor would I ever ask Mr. D. for an 
order. ’ ’ She said that I was entitled to the business after the 
assistance I was giving her—gratis. I replied that I was not 
giving my services for personal gain, but to help them keep 
the business together until her husband was able to resume 
his duties. 

Eventually when Mr. D. was able to come to the store I quit 
my “Saturday job” and kept passing him up, but never fail- 





TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 


57 


ing to look in and smile—even at the old tyrant. About three 
weeks after Mr. D. got back to work he telephoned the factory, 
asking them to send me down to his store. When I got there 
he said: “What do I owe you, Wilson?” I said, “For 
what?” He said, “For helping me out for over four weeks.” 
I said, “You don’t owe me anything for that.” Then he said, 
‘ ‘ But I do owe you something, and that is an apology for the 
way I treated you, and I want to tell you that this is the 
first time in my life I ever apologized to anybody. If you’ll 
send me a bill of goods I’ll give you the order now.” 

While this might not be the biggest order I ever got, it was 
the best one in men’s furnishings, and the best one my firm 
had ever secured from any of their trade up to that time. 
Besides, I made him a life-long customer. 





58 


TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 


SERVICE PLUS WINS A PERMANENT 

CUSTOMER 

By Wm. C. Alexander 

I N 1910, after struggling about a year to get a foothold 
with a practically unknown line of men’s neckwear in 
Baltimore and Washington, Christmas coming on Sunday, 
on the Wednesday preceding Christmas, about noon, the 
buyer from Washington’s biggest and most important men’s 
wear store came into our Philadelphia plant and bought two 
hundred dozen of some very bold patterns of brocaded satin 
neckwear to be made up and delivered by Friday night, at 
$5.00 a dozen. 

We had a limited capacity and this was the biggest order 
we had ever seen in the plant. We promised him a small ship¬ 
ment that night which we made. Friday morning the buyer 
wired us he had not received any goods and that knowing 
he would not get them for Christmas selling, he wanted us 
to cancel the balance of the order. 

We had shipped only about thirty dozen, and this meant 
we would have, in addition to disappointing the buyer, to lose 
the best order we had ever had. Every operator and finisher 
was on the job, so I wired the buyer that every dozen would 
be in his house for Saturday selling. 

The order was complete at three o’clock. I packed all the 
goods in sample cases and placed them into a wagon, rode to 
the Pennsylvania Station, bought a ticket to Washington, 
checked all the cases as baggage, saw them in the baggage car, 
boarded the train, arrived in Washington at nine p. m., found 
a man with a wagon, put the stuff on it, got on the wagon 
myself and personally took the goods to the store which had 
all curtains pulled down and had closed for the day. I rattled 
the door, which was opened and took the goods inside and got 
a wonderful ovation from the buyer and the clerks, as they 









TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 


59 


were about out of neckwear and the biggest selling day of the 
year was to follow on the next day. 

That was the beginning of a wonderful business relation 
with a house second to none. I have sold numerous lines since 
that and have taken many orders, two in the last year in my 
own business, exceeding $35,000 but have never made a sale 
of greater value, than the one back twelve years ago, in 1910. 

That house has never failed to find something they could 
use in any line I have sold of which fact I was reminded, 
when a sizeable check went over my desk from them this 
morning, paying for a bill of hosiery. The present buyer was 
assistant to the then buyer, who departed this life some 
years ago. 

That incident proved to me that no sale is complete until 
the absolute limit of service is rendered and that one sale 
and its splendid subsequent results have spurred me to render 
the utmost service at all times. 





60 


TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 


* 


TWO MEN GOT A BARGAIN 

By Ike Bernstein 

T HE best sale I ever made was to a gentleman who came 
into the store stating that he would like to look at a 
suit of clothes. He was a fine appearing, gentle sort of 
a middle aged man with a good natured, honest looking 
countenance—and believe me, he looked like business. 

I felt as confident in selling him a suit of clothes as I 
ever felt in my life. In sizing up this man, I concluded in 
my own mind the sort of suit that he would be pleased with. 
I took it out, slipped it on him, and as I predicted, the 
material seemed to satisfy him, the pattern was fine, and the 
fit—simply perfect. To sum it up, HE LIKED IT. 

He looked himself over in the mirror quite critically and 
to be thoroughly satisfied, said: “ I ’ll look at a few more suits 
as I don’t like to decide so quickly on the first suit I look at, 
even if I do like it.” Up to this point it had taken about 
thirty minutes. 

I discovered while he was looking over the last suit shown 
him that his mind seemed to be wandering, he was apparently 
giving the suits the minutest inspection. As neither he nor 
I said a word, I concluded that there was a screw loose some¬ 
where. It seemed to me as though I could see him looking for 
a soft spot so as to “let me down easily.” I felt certain 
something was going to happen very suddenly—without warn¬ 
ing—without argument or comment, or any excuse whatso¬ 
ever. 

Finally he said: “I have just come to the conclusion, after 
thinking it over, that I ’ll not buy a suit of clothes here in the 
city of Oakland. I am going to buy it in San Francisco where 
I make my living—I only sleep over here and it has always 
seemed an utter impossibility for me to get my business here 
in Oakland. I’ve tried often enough—I’m very sorry to have 





TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 


61 


put you to all this trouble. Perhaps I will come in to see you 
some time again.” That was some announcement. 

Grasping at a straw, I suggested, in order to put him into 
a reasonably good humor, that: ‘ 1 Since you have admitted 
the town to be your ‘bedroom’ you certainly are under some 
obligation to buy at least your hosiery or handkerchiefs in 
Oakland, aren’t you?” 

“Well, y-e-s,” came the condescending reply. 

By this time I had regained my poise and allowing me a 
chance to get back to the suit, I began arguing the “nothing¬ 
ness” of his wandering thought. I swelled up on the make 
of our clothes, the service we gave, our guarantee, I argued 
on the low price and big value, due to small, narrow margins 
of overhead expense. In fact, I argued against everything in 
San Francisco except the U. S. Mint. HE WOULD NOT 
BUDGE. 

I then concluded to try from another angle. I continued, 
‘ ‘ My friend, may I ask what is your line of business ? ’ ’ 

“My line of business?” he replied. “Why, life insurance.” 

I then asked him a number of questions in regard to life 
insurance and wound up in a sort of an off hand way that it 
might be that I would interest myself in some life insurance 
and take out a policy at no distant date, that is, as soon as 
my financial condition became a shade easier (never meaning 
a word of it). I was not exactly surprised that he im¬ 
mediately woke up—all attention—and then he shot his 
“master talk” my way, using the utmost tact, and after a 
few moments he said in a roundabout way, that he’d like to 
look at that first suit again. I produced the suit, holding the 
coat over my arm so that it was fully displayed, and ignoring 
his suit talk so that I could get some information as to the 
price of insurance at my age, etc. And like from a clear sky 
he said: 

“How much did you say that suit was?” I told him. 

“I’ll take it,” he said, and paid me. He handed me his 
line of insurance talk again and for the life of me, I could not 
help but give him a date for an interview. To make a short 






62 TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 


story shorter, we met—he gained his point—it was for a 
twenty year endowment policy of $2,000. 

Now that the policy has been paid in full and am now 
within four years of the expiration of the second twenty 
years, I feel quite positive that we both got the best of the 
bargain. 





TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 


63 


SERVICE PLUS DETERMINATION 

By Marc R. Cohn 

T HE best sale I ever made was accomplished in Arkansas. 
There were three of the largest lumber mills in the state 
located at Center Point, and to sell them goods was the 
pride of every road salesman. 

At the time, I was traveling out of Chicago for a wholesale 
tailoring concern catering to mills exclusively. 

The mills at Center Point had experimented with differ¬ 
ent made-to-order lines, but with very poor success and un¬ 
necessary expense due to the fact that quite a number of the 
men quit and left their clothes at the mill. Thus, the mills 
were forced to pay the amount due the tailoring houses. 

Landing in this town during the course of my route, I 
determined to make a try for an order from these mills. To 
get one of them meant to get them all. 

The morning after my arrival, I went out to one of the 
mills and had a talk with the owner, having sent my trunks 
containing the woolens ahead of me. We talked over the 
proposition and he flatly refused to consider my line. 

I returned to my hotel very much disappointed but 
determined to get this order. How was I to get this business 
when so many men before me had failed was the question 
uppermost in my mind ? I thought it over very carefully that 
night and studied it from every conceivable angle. Finally, 
I decided on the following plan. 

The next morning I went out to the mill and talked to the 
lumber mill employees about tailor-made clothes. Most of 
them being negroes, the idea of a new made-to-order suit made 
them open their eyes. 

By noon I had them afire with a desire for a new suit and 
ready to look at my line and order if satisfied. 








64 TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 


During the lunch hour, and after their working hours, I 
sold them $1,000 worth of clothes. 

The problem now, and the main factor, was to sell the 
owner the order which the employees had bought, and get 
a contract signed by him to collect the money for my firm. 
This was the only way we could handle such orders. 

Sitting in his office, I related to him how my goods had 
satisfied his men and that I had them all measured for $1,000 
worth of clothing. I explained that 20 per cent of that 
amount, $200, was his for collecting the total amount. I as¬ 
sured him that we would not bother him with an old sample 
book as other tailors had done, that I would personally take 
care of the order, and that I would return to fit and alter the 
clothes upon their completion. I also explained to him that 
there was no other tailoring house which would do this for 
him and that we would see to it that he would not lose a 
penny on suits left at his mill. 

After some persuasion he agreed to the contract. 

I wired my house to Okey the contract and then received 
his signature to the contract at once. 

This same plan was repeated on the other two mills and 
the total sales netted my company $2,500 worth of orders in 
three days. Together with these orders, we gained their good¬ 
will for future business, which all goes to prove that the old 
saying “Never say die” gets the business. 





TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 


65 


HE SOLD HIMSELF 


By A. L. Meisenheimer 


A 


BOUT a year ago I put on a demonstration of the 

-coffee at a country fair. A few weeks later 

one of my good customers in that same county refused 
to give me an order, saying that he would not buy from a con¬ 
cern that sold to a competitor of his at prices that enabled the 
competitor to undersell him. 


I was bewildered and asked him to kindly explain what 
he meant. From what he told me, and from what I learned 
from a letter which I received from our credit man, and also 
from the competitor himself, this is what happened. 

The competitor had seen my demonstration at the fair 
and had sent in an order by mail for one case of this coffee. 
The order passed by the credit man unnoticed, so he wrote 
me, and the fact was that the competitor found the coffee 
did not sell as quickly as he thought it would and he was 
compelled to cut the price and close it out. 

The regular customer did not sell much of this package 
coffee, but I was selling him bulk coffee, spices, extracts, etc., 
regularly. 

All the talking I did would not change hi& determination 
not to buy from our house. I offered to send out another sales¬ 
man, but he proved his friendliness toward me by inviting me 
to dinner. I offered him the exclusive sale of our products 
in his community, but he refused by saying: 

“I guess I’m stubborn, but once I make up my mind, I 
won’t change it, even if I lose money thereby.” 

On my future trips to that territory I would not stop in 
this customer’s store, but would often drive by and wave to 
him, his wife, son, or clerk if any one of them happened to 
be in sight. Sometimes I would stop and buy country 






66 TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 


produce, but rarely mentioned my line and never insisted that 
he buy. 

Not long ago the sales manager made a trip to this territory 
with me and I let him do all the talking, and when we left he 
said: ‘ ‘ I wouldn’t waste any more time on him. I ’d tell him 
to go to-. ’ ’ 

To tell the truth, I felt that way many times myself, but 
I also realized that he was very friendly to me and that my 
business was to sell my goods and not to give vent to my feel¬ 
ings. 

Two weeks ago when I made my regular four weeks trip 
to that territory, I determined to either sell him or forever 

quit trying to. I said to him: 11 Mr.-, it has now 

been over a year since you have made a purchase of me and 
I feel that I have paid a high price for what you have held 
against my house, even if they had done what you supposed 
they did. As you know, I am a new man in the business, 
and your patronage means more to me than it does to men 
who have been calling on their trade for ten years or so. 

“I have gradually increased my business, and the house 
has rewarded me for it, but I have not yet arrived at the 
point where I can afford to lose even one customer. I will 
soon have an increase in my family, and that means that I 
must further increase my business. 

“I have here a sample of the kind of coffee you formerly 
bought of me and I have a special price this week that is two 
cents under the market, and coffee will advance from one to 
three cents within a short time.” 

I then showed him figures on the visible supply of coffee, 
etc., that I was sure would cause the advance. He said he 
knew I had a good price, but he had plenty of coffee, and he 
hadn’t changed his mind about buying from my concern. He 
showed me his stock of coffee and I told him why his stock 
was very small, considering the season and market condi¬ 
tions. 

“Now, Mr.-,” I went on, “why not forget your 

feelings and use your judgment? Let me send you one bag 








TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 67 


of this coffee and I will promise to never beg you for another 
order. I will call, if you have no objections, and show you 
my line, but I will not be as persistent as I have been today. ’ ’ 

“Can you have it at number-North Third street 

by 8:30 tomorrow morning?” he asked. I assured him I 
would see that it was delivered by that time, and he had his 
son put one-half dozen cantaloupes in my machine for good 
luck. 

I asked my sales manager to write him a letter, thanking 
him for the order and soliciting his future patronage, but he 
did not do so. I suppose he still thinks I should have told him 
to “Go to- 

I made the sale because I knew I had sold myself to the 
man and made capital of his friendliness to me. From that 
time on I had his business. 








68 TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 


CONVINCING THE BUYER ON QUALITY 

By C. A. Bradley 

S EVERAL years ago I owned a farm and attended person¬ 
ally to the marketing of the produce. 

I had several acres of a new and choice variety of 
yellow, sweet corn. 

I called on a grocery man having a clientele of discriminat¬ 
ing buyers, showed him my samples, gave my sales talk 
claiming absolute superiority over any other sweet corn, and 
was met by the remark that he did not believe he could sell 
my corn to his customers as they were buying a white variety. 

I smiled and said, “Mr. Blank, I am going to leave a sack 
of my corn and I want you to ask five cents more a dozen 
than you ask for the best corn you are handling and I will 
reimburse you for any of my corn you are unable to sell. ’ ’ 

“All right,’’ he said, “Ill do it.” 

I left one sack. A day or two later as I was passing his 
store he hailed me. “Say!” he cried, “I want some more of 
that com. My customers are coming back and demanding 
more. ’’ 

“All right,” I said, “you can have all you can sell, on one 
condition. You must ask five cents more a dozen than you do 
for my nearest competitor’s.” 

He agreed and for the remainder of the season handled my 
product to our mutual satisfaction as well as that of his 
customers. 





TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 


69 


SOLD A MAN WHO “WOULDN’T BUY” 

By W. C. Ergood 

A FEW years ago I was representing a large cake and 
cracker company. Being thoroughly sold on the line 
myself, it was hard for me to understand why every 
merchant did not carry our goods in stock, or at least, a part 
of the line. But I did find several who did not do so on 
account of price, and the strict methods used in handling ac¬ 
counts, which was good because they played no favorites when 
it came time for bills to be paid. 

In a certain town in my territory I was selling every store 
where it was possible to sell cakes and crackers, excepting 
one, “The Big Store ,’ 9 the one I wanted most to sell for two 
reasons. One, because I was not selling them, the other be¬ 
cause I realized their business was good and if I could get 
it, would amount to as much, and possibly more, in the end, 
than the total business from all the other stores in that town 
combined. 

Believing sincerely that I had the very best line obtainable, 
I felt that of all places, it should be presented in the best 
stores in my territory. I felt as though somebody had fallen 
down on the job when they let this store get by. So I decided 
to go after that business, and if possible, to get it. I believed 
that this store surely must be having inquiries for my goods, 
and were substituting a cheaper product where it was pos¬ 
sible to do so. 

On my first call, I met a very pleasant gentleman, one of 
the firm, and learned that he did the purchasing when it came 
to taking on new lines of merchandise. This party, whom I 
will call Mr. Morgan, greeted me pleasantly enough, listened 
to what I had to say, and politely told me he would not stock 
my goods. 

I rather expected this on my first visit. On my next trip 
I called again with the same result. I continued to call 







70 TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 


each trip and got no encouragement to call again. After 
several fruitless visits Mr. Morgan one day said: 

“ Young man, you are wasting your time calling on us as 
we do not intend to stock your line because it is too high in 
price. We have another line which we are selling, and we buy 
it in such quantities that we are able to resell it in the 
original packages to many of the smaller stores throughout 
the country.” 

This was a flat turn-down and practically meant “keep 
out.” I suppose the salesman before me got the same thing 
handed to him, considered it final, probably thought Mr. 
Morgan was right, and that he would be wasting his time by 
continuing to call there. But I just couldn’t see it that way. 
I said: 

“Mr. Morgan, I do not feel as though I have wasted any 
time by calling on you. I am obliged to make this town and 
always have some spare time before taking the train out. It 
has been a pleasure to have met and talked with you, even 
though I did not sell you anything, and if you do not object, 
I would like the privilege of coming in if only to say ‘ Howdy ’ 
when I am in your town.” 

“Why certainly, come in any time. I did not mean that I 
did not want you to come in to see us. Thought possibly 
you could use the time to better advantage among the other 
merchants as we have no idea of buying your line of goods. ’ ’ 

I thanked him, and went on my way, but with the de¬ 
termination to call again each time I made that town. 

In time Mr. Morgan and I became fairly well acquainted, 
but on my continued visits I seldom mentioned my line of 
goods, but was watching for the opportunity to present itself 
when I might get him. 

His firm had decided to build a large modern store building 
to take better care of the different departments of their busi¬ 
ness. The new building was to occupy quite a good part of 
the block and I watched it being built with much interest. 
When it was completed, they were moved in and all settled, 
I dropped in and hunted up Mr. Morgan to congratulate him 





TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 


71 


on the fine new store. Finding him in a very good humor, I 
said: 

“Mr. Morgan, you certainly have a beautiful up-to-date 
storeroom.” I meant it, too, because it was. He smiled and 
said: 

‘ ‘ That’s what we think. ’ 9 

“Looking around over the different departments, Mr. 
Morgan, and noticing the class of merchandise you are han¬ 
dling, I would judge you are catering to the best trade in the 
country. ’’ 

“That is just what we are doing,” he replied. 

“The best trade is calling for our cakes and crackers, Mr. 
Morgan. ’ ’ 

I shot this remark at him quick, and in a confident way, 
looking straight at him to see what effect it might have. I 
believed this was my best opportunity to connect up if I was 
ever going to do so. It had the right effect. I noticed a smile 
come to his face, and I knew I had him. 

He realized what I said was true. There was no compari¬ 
son regarding the quality between the goods he was forcing 
on his trade, and what I wanted to sell him. 

His only advantage was price which, in this case, really was 
no advantage because the quality, quick turnover in sales, 
and increased business he would get by handling my line, 
would offset the difference in price many times. 

“How much did you say your crackers were worth?” he 
asked. 

“Fifty cents per dozen,” I replied. 

“Supposing I give you an order for one hundred dozen, 
what then ? ’’ 

“Still no difference in price if you wanted to order ten 
times that amount, but I don’t want to sell you a hundred 
dozen at this time, Mr. Morgan. Order twenty-five dozen, see 
how they sell. Keep your stock fresh. Should you need more 
before I return, mail a postal to the house and you will have 
a fresh supply in two or three days.” 






TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 


72 


“All right, have it your way. Let them come along.” 

I booked that order, and in doing so, felt as good over it 
as if I had sold one of my regular customers a carload. 

On the quantity sold I had figured about right. On my next 
visit they were all gone, as I wanted them to be. Mr. Morgan 
was well pleased and ready to give me a repeat order. I 
not only got an increased order for crackers, but sold him a 
full line of goods. 

I soon had a cake and cracker department all my own in 
that store and could walk in, arrange my stock and take my 
own orders, but I was always careful in booking these orders, 
just as careful as I would be if I was buying for a store of 
my own. 

Needless to say, in a short time my business in that town 
increased over 100 per cent. 

This particular sale taught me never to be discouraged 
because of a few turn-downs. Nor to stay away from any 
place where it was possible for my goods to be sold. 

A salesman cannot continually call on a merchant but 
what sooner or later he becomes acquainted, and if he calls 
constantly without making himself obnoxious to his prospect 
by trying too hard to force the sale of his goods, some time 
the opportunity will present itself when a sale can be made. 

Anybody can take orders from the one who wants to buy, 
but it takes planning, and thinking, to sell the man who says 
he doesn’t want to buy. 

The proposition of selling is making the other fellow think 
as you are thinking—that he should have your goods. 

I made three rules for myself which I have always lived up 
to when selling. They are, first—never lie to a prospect. 
Second—never stuff an order, and third—never beg for an 
order. I believe these rules, lived up to, combined with 
earnest efforts, belief in what you are selling and confidence 
in yourself will put a salesman over the hurdles and on the 
home stretch to success. 





TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 


73 


SOLD A MAN WHO WAS NOT INTERESTED 

By A. F. Thompson 

S OME years ago I was selling credit systems. One day, 
I called on a merchant whom I had never seen before, 
approached him in my usual manner, and was treated 
very courteously. After a few minutes he told me that he was 
not interested in my line as he had a credit system which was 
working very well and therefore had no reason to buy another. 

I told him that I had a few hours to spare and would like 
to tell him more about our system so that he would be better 
acquainted with it, and so that when his business warranted, 
he would know something about our system. He said, how¬ 
ever, it would be a long time before he would need a better 
system than the one he had in use. 

I went on telling him about our system and finally told him 
that he could not appreciate it until he saw it on his counter. 
I asked him if he would allow me to bring it up and demon¬ 
strate it so that he could then have a better appreciation of 
its value compared with the system he now had. 

To this he replied: “I should say not. I am not interested 
enough to listen to your system, say nothing about looking 
at it. I would not buy dollars for fifty cents at this time,” 
and with that he went out to lunch. However, before I had 
seen the merchant I had had a friendly talk with the head 
clerk, so when my prospect went out to lunch, the head clerk 
said: 

‘ ‘ There ’s no use talking to Mr.-about your system 

because he told me he's through buying any equipment for 
the store.” 

I was not satisfied with this, as I felt that this merchant 
really needed a new credit system and also felt that he had 
become somewhat interested in my proposition. I went over 
to his credit system and started to open it when all the paper 


/ 






74 TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 


fell out. The clerk then came over to me and said that I 
would have to be very careful, otherwise all the papers would 
spill out. I questioned him as to the system and asked if the 
papers have ever fallen out. He replied that it usually hap¬ 
pened a couple of times a week, and then it took an hour or 
more to get them straightened out. 

At this point I left the store and went to arrange to have my 
sample system sent up, and when the merchant returned from 
lunch, I had my system all set up. When he saw this he 
exploded and called me ’most everything but a gentleman. 
When he got over his tantrum I started talking to him with 
a most pleasant smile on my face. I told him that I knew he 
was the leading merchant in his town and I wanted him to 
see my system if both the system and myself were thrown out, 
because I could then say that I had shown it to the leading 
merchant in town. 

He started to smile, and then I started to make my demon¬ 
stration. Within thirty minutes I had a signed order and a 
check for the first payment. He smiled—and did I smile ? 





TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 


75 


NO EASY TASK 

By T. Sommers 

A FEW years ago I located in a small western town 
and opened an electrical store, doing general electrical 
contracting, handling supplies and fixtures, and help¬ 
ing to establish a “load” for the municipal plant which was 
under construction. Some of the residents were to use electric 
lights for the first time in their own homes and it took sales¬ 
manship to get a contract, wire the house or building, and 
collect before the plant was ready to operate. But the “hard 
sale ’ ’ came later and was sold to the Town Council. 

The plant started and everything was operating nicely, but 
only from dusk to midnight. Later on the service hours were 
increased and we had current until daylight. This kind of 
service was all right for our business as far as wiring for 
lights was concerned, and for the sale of a few fans or irons 
if the customer wished them bad enough to use only at night. 
Our career was nearing an end unless we could “sell” the 
Town Council on a twenty-four hour service. We had no 
public water system, the modern homes and buildings had 
their own private pressure-tank systems and used gasoline 
engines to operate the pumps. A twenty-four hour system 
or service would mean the sale of quite a few motors to take 
the place of these engines. 

So I set quietly about, covering the entire town and got a 
prospective list of fans, irons, motors, and various appliances, 
according to the individual’s needs, things they would buy 
providing we got a twenty-four hour service. I then placed 
the figure opposite each article, showing the amount of current 
used, added this up, got my data all ready and asked permis¬ 
sion to speak at the next meeting of the Board. You can 
realize the amount of business it meant to us, in fact, it was 
stand or fall right there and I went after it with the proper 
force. The Board decided it would pay and ordered the con¬ 
tinuous service. 







76 


TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 


It was an easy matter, then, of course, to follow up the list 
and furnish the articles agreed upon. “Selling’’ the Board 
was made all the harder on account of one of the Board 
members being a competitor of ours who had tried to put us 
out of business several times before, and soon after opening 
our shop an ordinance was passed which affected us directly 
in the display of our fixtures, but this emergency was met 
without loss of time or business. 

I consider this my hardest sale because it meant either the 
death or life of our business at that time. 





TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 


77 


MADE THEM SELL THEMSELVES 

By J. 0. 

T HE majority of my dealers are convinced that where 
their argument ends mine begins and they expect me to 
. sign up the prospect after they have failed. The word 
“ failed ” has been knocked out so many times it is only an 
exceptional case that I am called for a return bout. It was 
on the 14th inst., I was called to sell a church committee and 
the only thing to consider was price and terms. Owing to 
the fact that the congregation was small and poor, prices and 
terms had been submitted by a number of competitors and I 
knew that we could meet neither of them. I, therefore, 
arranged to be the last speaker. I kept away from the price 
and terms and spent about one hour and fifteen minutes in 
educating the committee in heating and ventilating. The circu¬ 
lation of air, how to fire in order to save fuel and get the best 
results, the future prospects of enlarging the church, the 
location of the furnace, etc., until they were all interested in 
the future as well as the present. It only took a few moments 
to bring out the superior points in our furnace and with a 
photograph of the furnace in the hands of the committee I 
asked them which furnace they would prefer—prices being 
equal. Our furnace was the unanimous verdict. 

I then asked them w 7 hy? They began to bring out the 
good points, also the advantage in the installation, to such an 
extent I was surprised. They had been EDUCATED ON 
SOMETHING BESIDES PRICE AND TERMS. I told 
them our terms were cash, ten days, but I would make them 
the same price as the lowest bidder if they would pay cash. 
This they agreed to and started to tell me what the lowest 
bid was. I asked them to call in my competitor and ask him 
what he would sell his furnace for by the pound. If he asked 
fifteen cents a pound that would be my price. They had sold 
themselves, and I enclosed the order accompanied by a check 
in full which was $63.00 higher than the highest bid. 






78 


TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 


OUT OF THE BEATEN PATH 

By W. S. English 

I N 1910 I was Salesmanager of the Incandescent Light and 
Supply Co., Columbus, Ohio, who at that time were manu¬ 
facturing gas mantles, and while it was not the largest 
concern of its kind in the business it made a mighty good gas 
mantle. The trouble we had, however, was in convincing 
the prospective buyer of this fact. 

In some territories our salesmen sold direct shipments while 
in others we sold through jobbers and thus in addition to 
looking after the salesmen it devolved on me to personally 
call on jobbers in Ohio and keep them lined up. 

One day the president of the company called me into his 
office and questioned me concerning our business with the 
Capitol City Merchandise Co. and upon learning that we 
had not yet sold them practically put it up to me to see that 
we did. 

I later learned that the president was better acquainted 
with this company than I was and he had merely given me a 
nice little nut to crack just to see what I would do with it. 

Their business was placed on a yearly contract basis and 
when the time came for the letting of this contract I had my 
“day in court,’’ explained our proposition thoroughly along 
the lines of the beaten path in Salesmanship and exerted my 
best efforts to convince the buyer that we were the lawful 
heirs-at-law of that next contract but was unable to close 
him. He finally said he would go over the propositions sub¬ 
mitted thoroughly that night and give me his decision at 
9 o’clock the next morning. 

You may believe that on this particular night I did not 
sleep very much. I went over the whole proposition from be¬ 
ginning to end and finally concluded that my weakness lay 
in not being able to convince the buyer that our mantles were 





TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 


79 


BETTER than those of my competitor, which was the largest 
concern of its kind in the United States. 

It is easy enough to TELL a buyer that one gas mantle 
is better than another, but it is much harder to CONVINCE 

him. 

Hour after hour I pondered until nearly morning and like 
a gleam of light across a night of darkness came the answer! 

The next morning at five minutes to nine I walked boldly 
into the offices of the merchandise company only to be met 
by the buyer with the greeting: “Well, Mr. English, I guess 
you lose. We talked the matter over last night and have 
decided to continue with our present source of supply as 
their goods are well advertised, etc.” You know how they 
ease the bad news to a salesman and naturally expect him 
to smilingly take the air and gracefully fade away. 

I DID NOT FADE as expected, but came right back with 
“Mr. Long, if I can convince you beyond the shadow of a 
doubt that mantle for mantle and price for price our goods 
have more thorium and cerium oxide in them than those of 
our competitor, will you reconsider your statement and give 
me another chance at that contract?” 

He smiled and said, “Yes, but I hardly believe you can do 
that.’’ 

To which I replied: “If I did not feel confident that I 
could I would not ask you for another second of your time. 
If you will step back to your office, we can soon decide the 
matter.” 

He ushered me into his private office, invited me to be 
seated and instead I got to work, opened my grip, laid out a 
number of my competitor’s mantles and some of my own and 
then from a small box, I took out a pair of apothecary scales. 1 

He sat up and took notice. 

I next took a sales slip from a local store out of my pocket 
and laid it before him and said: ‘ ‘ Mr. Long, the mantles which 
I am going to use in this demonstration were purchased this 
morning at that store; both my own and my competitor’s were 





80 


TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 


taken from stock as you will note from that bill, if you care 
to check them up.” 

He said: “That is not necessary, go ahead. I will take 
your word for it.” 

After explaining the process of mantle making with which 
he was more or less familiar, I weighed a mantle of my com¬ 
petitor which was to retail at ten cents and had him mark 
down the weight. I then burned the mantle up which merely 
burns the collodion off of it and leaves the chemical of which 
it is made and we re-weighed it. We went through the whole 
line from ten cent mantles up to twenty-five cent ones in 
both upright and inverted and upon checking the result 
found that the statements I had made to him were absolutely 
correct. Mantle for mantle and price for price our mantles 
contained more actual thorium and cerium oxide than those 
of my nearest competitor, while in a few the difference was 
very small yet it got my claims across. 

After a discussion of amounts, special labels, etc., we wrote 
up the year’s contract with an immediate delivery of several 
thousand and a stated amount to be shipped each month. 

After thanking him for his reconsideration and receiving 
a hearty, “You are entirely welcome,” he told me that he 
believed he had profited more by this transaction than I, 
for he had learned the expert’s way of telling which is the 
better mantle. 

1 did not tell him that I had only learned it myself the 
night before. 

The next car took me out to the factory and I had the 
pleasure of reminding the president of the conversation we 
had several months before concerning this company and then 
laying my contract and orders on his desk. 

I evaded a direct answer to his surprised question as to how 
I did it and I do not believe to this day he knows how that 
order was secured. 

I got it by going out of the beaten path and securing a pair 
of apothecary scales to use in “bringing home the bacon,” 
and they are here before me as I write, mute reminders of 
their splendid service to me when a “feller needed a friend.” 





TALES OP UNUSUAL SALES 


81 


HIS BEST SALE TAUGHT HIM A VALUABLE 

LESSON 

By E. P. Moore 

I N the year 1910, I was elected president and manager of 
a new wholesale grocery company, the first one in the 
city and sometime during the summer of 1911, I bought 
a future contract of canvas gloves, one hundred dozen. This 
item was very little known in our territory at that time and 
I became uneasy for fear that I had overbought. I decided 
to go over a certain portion of our territory, to get acquainted 
with our customers, and, among other items, took with me 
samples of these gloves. When I had returned after a four- 
day trip I had booked exactly one hundred dozen gloves—my 
largest customer having bought twenty dozen. Full of en¬ 
thusiasm in my success, the following week I started out with 
my samples to call on some of our city trade. 

What I have just related, I did, so as to give an idea of my 
condition of mind in relating to you the following instance of 
sale: 

I had figured my customer and decided being close to a 
saw-mill I must sell him twenty-five dozen. I elaborated about 
having sold one customer twenty dozen and he very sneeringly 
remarked that this was a very small quantity of gloves. I 
raised my sights to fifty dozen and saw this was not large 
enough, and finally signed his order up for one hundred 
dozen gloves, immediate shipment. Feeling that I had not 
yet sold this customer enough gloves from his manner of talk, 
I suggested that I duplicate the shipment in thirty days which 
was perfectly satisfactory. The goods were shipped, and the 
customer accepted and paid for them. 

I consider this my best sale because I had really sold this 
customer eight times the quantity I intended to and this 
particular sale has been the means of much business and 
taught me that one of the greatest essentials toward making a 
sale is knowing your customer’s capacity. 







82 TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 


GAVE A LESSON AND SECURED AN ORDER 

By L. L. LaGrange 

O N MY first two trips to Muskogee, Okla., Boen’s C. 0. D. 
was one of the largest free delivery grocery stores in 
the town. On my first trip he bought an order of 
Burnett’s Extract from me, but on my second visit I found 
that it had not sold as it should. Mr. Boen told me that his 
clerks following the path of least resistance continued to give 
their customers the 25 and 35 cent sellers. 

On my last trip there I found that he had changed his place 
into a Help Yourself Grocery. After talking a few minutes 
on the change that he had made he told me that they had 
only a few bottles of Burnett’s left, but as it did not sell very 
fast they had put it in with the 35-cent extract and were 
putting it all out at 33 cents. 

At this time Mr. Boen was called to the phone and I went 
back and found that he had only a few bottles of Burnett’s in 
vanilla and lemon. I separated them from the rest, spread 
them out on a shelf by themselves and then put a 38-cent 
price tag on them. 

I then called him back to show him the new arrangement, 
telling him that the only way a lady had of judging the 
quality of an article was by the price she paid for it, and by 
selling Burnett’s for what it was realty worth it would in¬ 
crease his sales of Burnett’s and at the same time he would 
do his customers a favor by letting them know what he con¬ 
sidered the best. 

While the order he gave me was not large it gave me as 
much pleasure as any order that I have ever written. 






83 


TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 


HE DIDN’T GIVE UP 

By Burt Greenwood 

F or over twelve years various representatives of mv 
firm had tried, and failed, to sell glue to the Blank 
Company, large manufacturers of cold water calcimine 
and paints. 

Our price was on a par, or if anything, higher than that of 
competitors, and the purchasing agent of the Blank Company 
could not see the advantage of changing his source of supply 
when the slightest variation of quality or characteristics of 
the glue he bought would necessitate costly changes in their 
formulae. 

Glue is not graded until after its manufacture has been 
completed, due mostly to the varying degree of evaporation 
when it is crystalized. I knew that to sell this concern at all, 
I would first have to convince their officials that we could 
absolutely duplicate the quality of glue they were then using 
very satisfactorily. 

On my first visit to the Blank Company’s plant, I obtained 
an interview with their chemist, who, I had learned from 
other representatives of ours, tested every commodity they 
used before it entered their product. 

“Mr. Brown, your company uses huge quantities of glue, 
and my firm—one of the largest manufacturers of glue in 
the country—are very desirous of getting more serious con¬ 
sideration from you. Will you let me have a sample of the 
glue you now use so that we may test it in the same manner 
that we grade our own product, and thereby be in a position 
to quote you intelligently when you are again in the market?” 

He gave me a sample, and after our laboratories had com¬ 
pleted their analysis, I personally took Mr. Brown a generous 
counter sample of our glue. A grade that was as nearly the 
same as we could guarantee to supply large quantities of, as 
the sample he had given me. 









84 


TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 




He made a careful test of our glue and finding it fully 
equal in quality to that which he had been using, took me 
into the main office and introduced me to their purchasing 
agent, a gentleman I had carefully avoided until I had estab¬ 
lished a basis of trade. 

I talked long and earnestly to that man, elaborating on 
every selling point I had. Convinced that we could duplicate 
the quality of glue they had been using, he listened attentively 
and finally reached for an order blank. 

“What,” he inquired, “is that the best price you can 
make us ? ’ ’ 

I named our lowest figure and then the fun began. 

‘‘Too high,’’ he snapped. “I’m sorry but we are not inter¬ 
ested, ’ ’ and abruptly terminated the interview. 

Subsequent visits were of no avail. ’Phone calls were cut 
off short as soon as he learned our price was unchanged. 

There were many things which warranted the slightly 
higher price, but I could not get another hearing. Our fac¬ 
tory was within trucking distance of theirs. We were in a 
position to deliver them glue as called for, billing each deliv¬ 
ery as a separate sale at the quantity figure. Such service 
would release money otherwise tied up in idle stock—prevent 
demurrage rates on the cars of glue continually coming to 
them, and would release valuable warehouse space. 

But how to get these facts before him without antagonizing 
him? 

I resorted to the mails, and wrote him a series of letters. 
In each letter I outlined one thing which warranted the 
slightly higher price, and closed by asking the favor of an¬ 
other hearing. Eight such letters were written, before I ob¬ 
tained the desired hearing—but I did obtain it, and further¬ 
more, I sold him. My high-price arguments had won. 

It took three months to do it but selling him, Oh Boy! 
What a grand and glorious thrill that gave me, not to mention 
more material compensation. 







TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 


85 


THE UNEXPECTED APPROACH 

By T. Z. Watson 



T A luncheon recently given to stimulate interest, 


attended by sales managers and salesmen from 35 


firms who are national advertisers, a very interesting 
feature was introduced. Volunteers were requested in a five 
minute talk, to demonstrate the sale of an article which they 
had never sold or were not familiar with. 

Silk hosiery was selected on this occasion. The chairman, 
finding it hard to secure volunteers, finally invited me to 
make the demonstration in these words, ‘ ‘ As the oldest sales¬ 
man present with over 50 years ’ experience, I wish you would 
demonstrate this sale, in order that we may all see the differ¬ 
ence between the old time and present day methods of selling 
merchandise.” 

I could not very well refuse. I realized that it was strictly 
up to me and I determined not only to demonstrate, but ac¬ 
tually make the sale. 

On my way to the table on which were displayed the sam¬ 
ples, order blanks and literature, I got an inspiration and 
knew it would win. I held up the sample for inspection of 
all and turning round, invited the lady attendants who had 
served the luncheon to stand in a row. I then said “Here is 
a sample of pure silk ladies’ hosiery, and there stand the 
neatly costumed, pleasant faced young ladies who have so 
nicely served us. As a mark of our appreciation, and in order 
that these young ladies will always remember the specialty 
salesman, I am going to ask each of you to buy a share in 
this box of hosiery, and present each of these charming girls 
with a pair of silk hose. Shares will be 25 cents each, and I 
will start with you, sir” (pointing to a bright faced, happy 
young man). Every person present bought and paid for his 
share. The hosiery as well as the salesmen’s commission was 
distributed to the young ladies. 





86 TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 


The whole transaction occupied less than the five minutes 
allowed, during which attention was arrested, interest created, 
desire aroused and the cash paid. 

To me, it demonstrated once again that the unexpected 
approach is the biggest end of the battle. Here were a room¬ 
ful of specialty salesmen and managers without an intention 
of buying, all prepared to have some fun with the volunteer 
selling a new line of goods, astonished by the unexpected 
approach, and cheerfully buying something before they woke 
up to the fact that the old bird was putting something over 
on them. 





TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 


87 


FOUND A LOOPHOLE 

By L. J. Dykes 

T HE hardest sale I ever made only amounted to twenty- 
five dollars, but every one of those five dollar bills 
looked as big as a barn door to me when I collected 
them, and furthermore the sale resulted in my securing a posi¬ 
tion selling automobiles for a firm that usually has a long 
waiting list of eligibles. 

The sale was made to a man who was a salesman himself. 
And what made the sale difficult was the fact that it entailed 
selling an idea, an idea that at first appeared highly ridiculous 
to the man who eventually bought it. I sold him the idea that 
he ought to let me teach his wife to drive a car, although she 
had been driving five thousand miles a year for twelve years. 

I had landed in this city with only a few dollars, and in a 
few days I was broke. It happened that this was a city with 
a very aggravated traffic problem, and the civic authorities 
were continually trying schemes of all kinds to better the 
situation. At this time the Chamber of Commerce was about 
to conduct a contest to determine who was the best woman 
driver in the city. 

A similar contest had been put on in a city further up the 
coast a few weeks before, and the contest won by the lady 
representing the Buick agency. This fact resulted in a lot of 
free publicity for that car, so I hunted up the local agent 
in the city where I had become stranded, and asked if he was 
going to have a representative in the contest. He said he was, 
and furthermore, she was going to win. I then asked how he 
would like to have her chances for winning materially im¬ 
proved. I told him I would like to give her some lessons in 
driving with that end in view. 

At that he exploded. The lady in question was his own 
wife; she had been driving ears for twelve years; he had 
taught her personally, and she was the best he ever saw; and 








TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 


88 




so on. I never attempted to stop him, just waited till he had 
got out of breath. I then asked him how well she knew the 
traffic rules, pointing out how important that was, inasmuch 
as a knowledge of them was to count twenty-five per cent 
with the judges of the contest. It happened that was the 
very thing he had never thought of. I then went on to 
explain that I had made a very careful study of the traffic 
laws of both city and state, and that I was sure that I could 
help him, or his wife, or anyone, to a much better knowledge 
of them, if given an opportunity. 

He said he would think it over, and asked me to come back 
next day. I left, but there was a phone call for me from 
him when I got to my room at noon. He wanted me to come 
down and meet his wife that afternoon. 

The upshot was my engagement to give the lady some les¬ 
sons at two and a half dollars an hour, with a bonus of twenty- 
five dollars in it for me if the Buick won the contest. 

The lady was a wonderfully intelligent driver, very care¬ 
ful and very skillful with the wheel. But there were several 
little fine points she had neglected all her life, and I was able 
to point out to her how they would influence the judges’ 
decision against her if not corrected. 

I gave her four lessons, and she has always given me credit 
for the fact that she won. And her husband put me on his 
selling force next week, with a nice drawing account that my 
sales record since seems to have justified. 





TALES OP UNUSUAL SALES 


89 


OVERCOMING A HARD OBJECTION 

By Ben B. Brands 

1 SELL Health and Accident Insurance, and, as most peo¬ 
ple look upon insurance of any kind as a liability instead 
of an investment, it is sometimes rather hard to put it 
over, although by telling the prospect about the benefits the 
care and comfort he will receive when he does actually need 
it, instead of persuading him to buy by frightening him or by 
picturing all sorts of accidents and calamities, most of them 
will sign an application. 

I have one policy that is particularly good, so good that 
most people won’t believe it possible. I have had to do a lot 
of explaining as to how the company can give as good a policy 
for so low a rate, but one day a particularly stubborn pros¬ 
pect, whom I had approached several times, gave me the talk 
that wins most of them over. 

I had called on him several times to get his application for 
this policy, but his argument was that it was too unreasonable 
—no company could give such a policy and remain solvent. 
We were sitting in his living room, I trying to convince him 
it was a sound policy by a sound company, he refusing to 
believe it. 

On the table were various magazines, catalogs, etc., among 
which was one from a ready cut house company opened at 
page showing a five-room house for less than $1,000. This 
gave me an idea to get this prospect started to contradict 
himself. I picked up the catalog, asking him if he was inter¬ 
ested in buying that house. He said, “yes,” and explained 
that that was the house he was going to get. 

Then I started telling him that no company could furnish 
such a house at such a price, if it did, the material couldn’t 
be worth much or else they had to skimp on the size, etc., 
using the very objections to his house that he had used on 
my policy. I wanted to know why he believed that company 






90 TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 


could furnish that house for that price. He said he had seen 
one like it erected, knew the quality of material was good, 
knew the company was good, and able to furnish that house 
at that price because it was popular and could be made in 
quantities. He explained how quantity production cut down 
cost. Then I had him, replying that my company could issue 
these policies on quantity production also. ¥e could print 
them by the thousands and sell them that way. 

It was the thousands that were sold, and the small per cent 
that applied for the indemnity that made it profitable for the 
company. He signed right then and is now bragging as much 
about my policy as he is his house. 





TALES OP UNUSUAL SALES 


91 


MADE HIM PAY ATTENTION 

By C. W. Childs 

O NE of the buyers in my territory was noted as a “goat- 
getter, 7 7 because of his absolutely ignoring the presence 
of a man until it suits him to talk—and this no matter 
whether the caller saluted or not. 

I landed there on my first trip without knowledge of the 
extreme peculiarities of the man. On entering this small office 
containing three men, and saying, ‘ ‘ good morning, 7 ’ the only 
response was a grunt and on a request for the buyer a thumb 
was jerked over a shoulder to indicate the man desired. I 
spoke to the gentleman, who looked up, and then resumed his 
work. Though I made two other attempts both were ignored 
and after about forty-five minutes he turned with a “Well, 
what 7 s on your mind ? ’ 7 But I was frozen out and the ‘ ‘ goat 7 ’ 
was loose. Well what would you do? 

I figured the only way to get his real attention was to beat 
him at his own game, so on the next trip I saved a lot of 
memoranda. Then on entering the office said, “Good morn¬ 
ing, 7 7 sat down alongside the buyer’s desk, and proceeded to 
be very busy with the memoranda. About ten minutes of 
this and then an inquiry out of the corner of his mouth as 
to what I wanted. This I didn’t hear. Another five minutes 
of writing memos, and he swung about in his chair and from 
that time on gave courteous attention. 





92 TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 


“TOO DARN MUCH STUFF” 

By Walt Krueger 

A S IS very often the case, one of my smallest sales might 
be considered my best. I had been selling kitchen 
equipment, and was having such good success that I 
prided myself on being able to sell at least one article to 
every prospect who saw my equipment. 

However, this condition could not continue forever, and I 
thought that the end of my string of successive sales had come 
when I called upon a tight-fisted old farmer and his wife. It 
is difficult to describe them, but if you have sold to farmers, 
you know this type. They were very nice people, but—oh, 
so cautious and careful with their money. 

They had little to do on this particular afternoon, so they 
welcomed me very graciously, more as a visitor than a sales¬ 
man. They thoroughly enjoyed my display of utensils and 
showed a genuine interest in my sales talk until it came time 
for them to buy or state the reason for not buying. Then 
their attitude changed. 

She was a fine elderly woman who never spent a cent on 
herself or her kitchen, but she did want a certain combina¬ 
tion set that I had. He, however, was the proverbial “close” 
farmer who wouldn’t spend a dollar for the house, but who 
would spend hundreds of dollars for tools for the farm. She 
was sold. She wanted my utensils and would have bought 
them had she had the money. But he was far from sold, and 
I could see that it would take more than eloquence to sell him. 
He sat with his arms and legs crossed and his jaw set. He 
knew that I wanted to sell him, and he was ready to fight to 
the finish. 

He admitted that my utensils were good, but that his wife 
had “so much darned stuff” that he couldn’t afford to buy 
any more. I called his bluff by stepping into the pantry and 
pulling out the few antiquated pots and pans that his wife 





TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 93 


was attempting to cook with. I proved to him that the com¬ 
bination his wife wanted did the work of four major pieces, 
none of which she had. Suddenly, I exclaimed. “She needs 
it and she wants it. Will you buy it for her?” 

What could he say? Of course, he bought. 





I 


94 TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 


TALKED FOUR HOURS WITHOUT A 

RESPONSE 

By Louise K. Smith 

T HE best sale I ever made was a ten-thousand-dollar pol¬ 
icy to a man who spoke only four words in my presence. 
I am a life insurance saleslady and I canvass almost 
entirely the farmers, because I thoroughly believe that they 
should carry protection for the overworked wdfe. 

I had worked a certain little valley so well that I couldn’t 
have scared up another prospect with a fine-tooth comb, when 
one of my friends told me that a rich cattle-man about twenty 
miles distant had married a widow who was very anxious for 
him to carry plenty of insurance. 

That sounded like business and so I set out post-haste with 
my little buggy and slow team, for those roads wouldn’t ac¬ 
commodate an automobile. After three hours of March slush 
and mud I arrived at my destination to find the most charm¬ 
ing little woman it had been my pleasure to meet in that part 
of the country. 

In true Western style I was invited in and made comfort¬ 
able before she asked me the nature of my business. I frankly 
told her that I had come to sell her husband some life insur¬ 
ance, but that I would prefer to talk to him on the subject in 
the morning, as I was very tired that evening. 

She said that he was busy outside with the chores and 
would probably be tired and wet when he came in, and no 
doubt, it would be better to defer our business until morning. 
Then the little lady and I proceeded to get acquainted, finding 
that we knew several localities and many people in common. 

At last the husband appeared and we were properly intro¬ 
duced. He was a great, tall giant with a pleasant face and 
he seemed as bashful as a country schoolboy. He didn’t say 
a word during the whole evening—not one—not even at din¬ 
ner. And yet he did not appear surly or rude, just quiet. 






TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 


95 


Immediately after dinner I went to my room to fortify 
myself with a good night’s rest before tackling the sphinx. 

In the morning he nodded pleasantly when we met at the 
breakfast table and again ate his meal in silence. I had made 
up my mind to tackle this speechless giant just as soon as he 
had swallowed his last bit of breakfast, and I did. 

I was seated beside him and instantly I had my w r allet and 
sample policy on the table, and life-insurance was the topic 
of the monologue; for my prospect still refused to speak. 

Carefully I went through every feature of our policy, the 
protection, accident benefits, surgical operation, optional set¬ 
tlement at the end of twenty years, and so on. Not one com¬ 
ment did I get from the bashful giant, not even a grunt. He 
just sat there and thought in that sphinx-like way of his. 

I went back and reviewed with great elaboration the fea¬ 
tures of the policy that I thought might interest him most. 
Still not a word, but he looked interested. 

I approached the thing from every conceivable angle that 
occurred to me. Now I have the reputation of being a fluent 
talker but to maintain a one-sided conversation for four hours 
and not appear nervous, would tax even a woman’s ingenuity. 
Usually I get a counter argument, something to give me a 
fresh start, but there I sat talking against that man’s silent 
thoughts from seven o’clock until eleven. Of course, the 
little lady would ask a question or make a comment once in 
a while, but not once did she say, “You’d better take it.” 

Finally I had a sort of a hunch that I’d get him that very 
minute or never. So I pushed a blank application over toward 
him and laughingly said, just as if it didn’t matter in the 
least whether he did or not, “You might as well sign this 
now, for I’m going to stay here until you do. ’ ’ 

I’ll never forget the shock of really hearing his voice. He 
actually grew fluent. “Well, I don’t care,” he drawled as 
he signed his name. Then he went to his work leaving his 
wife to give me the necessary details for the application. 

That was the hardest sale I’ve made in ten years of selling 
life insurance. 





96 


TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 


A LITTLE STRATEGY 

By Wm. A. Torney 

1 BELIEVE that sales are quite often made by the mental 
alertness or strategy of a salesman. 

I am in the life insurance profession which is one pro¬ 
fession that requires the maximum amount of this quality 
which I term ‘ ‘ mental alertness, ” if a salesman of this service 
is to succeed. 

There is a certain progressive, retail men’s clothing estab¬ 
lishment in my town, the proprietor being a good prospect for 
insurance, but who was very hard to interview without inter¬ 
ruption, and who would not discuss business affairs at home. 
I had resolved to sell this man, so I decided to talk to him 
across the counter. He stood behind a show case and listened 
quite courteously to my talk but I could see that he was not 
digesting it by any means, and that something must be done 
to make my words register. 

I was in the market for a blue suit at the time, so I changed 
my talk very abruptly and said: 

“Say, Mr. -, have you any good blue suits in stock?” 

Well, sir, he came to life with a jerk and replied: 

“Sure, just come upstairs.” You bet I followed on. It 
was just what I wanted—to get him up there where there 
would be fewer interruptions. 

He showed me his stock of suits. I showed especial interest 
in one particularly. He picked it up and said: 

“Mr.-, that suit’s a dandy. It just fits you—is rightly 

priced—and is just what you need.” I replied: 

“It certainly is, Mr.-, and so does that policy I was 

explaining just fit your conditions—is rightly priced—and is 
just what you need.” 

There was not much left to be said. I paid for the suit 










TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 97 


with the commission I received as a result of his signature on 
the good old dotted line, and today he is one of my biggest 
boosters. 

So my advice to salesmen of all lines is: “Keep yourselves 
in a state of mental alertness always/’ You’ll find it pays. 





98 


TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 


STRATEGY IN DEMONSTRATING 

By H. L. Haktsock 

A FEW years ago I was selling carbide lighting plants 
in one of the southern states. There were four well- 
to-do farmers living close together and about four to 
five miles out of the town where I was making headquarters. 
One of them was also a wholesale and retail seed, grain and 
feed merchant in the town and a kind of a leader among the 
other three. They had been considering running a high ten¬ 
sion line from town and putting city lights in their homes, 
and after spending some time trying to get them interested 
in my plant I was convinced that if I could sell the leader 
the others would be easy, but unless I could get his order it 
was useless to talk to them. I went to his place of business 
several times and tried to make an engagement to give him 
a demonstration but in a nice way he would tell me that he 
was not interested in any kind of a proposition except lights 
from the city and wouldn’t give me a chance to show what I 
had. I even went out to his home one evening, thinking that 
he would give me a chance to show him my lights and explain 
my proposition. He invited me in to visit with him and 
treated me very nicely but under no circumstances would he 
let me demonstrate or even talk to him about a lighting plant. 

About a week later, I had been further out and made a sale 
and was returning to town. As I passed the leader’s house, 
about 9:30 p. m., I saw a light in his room and thought of a 
plan to give him a demonstration. I stopped my Ford in the 
middle of the road right in front of his house, opened up the 
carburetor one full turn so that when I cranked the motor it 
would flood and stop, then as a pretense of having to have a 
light to see how to fix the car I charged and fired up my 
demonstrator. I then beat and hammered on the old car for 
some ten or fifteen minutes before I got his attention, but at 
last he came out and when he recognized me he said, “Why, 






TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 


99 


hello, is that you, Mr. Hartsock, what’s the trouble with your 
car?” I said, '‘She just stopped and won’t run anymore.” 
After some time trying to help me find the trouble, he said, 
“Is that the light you have been telling me about?” I told 
him, “ Yes,” and kept on fooling with my car. He said, 
“That is a better light than I thought you had. Would you 
mind taking it in the house for the folks to see after you 
get your car fixed?” I told him “I wouldn’t mind” and 
that “I wanted to rest awhile on the car anyway so we may 
as well go in now. ’ ’ So in we went and in about thirty min¬ 
utes I came out with his order for a light plant, readjusted 
the carburetor and went on my way rejoicing. 

The next morning, armed with his signature on an order 
for a light plant I had no trouble in selling his three neighbors 
without even having to give them a demonstration. 


) > 

> j ) 

* * * 







100 


TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 


MADE THE PROSPECT SEE THE PROPO¬ 
SITION 

By H. L. Hartsock 

S ALESMEN who have worked Missouri territory will 
agree that the fellow who said, “the man from Missouri 
has to be shown” was not guessing, but knew exactly 
what he was talking about. As proof of this statement, I offer 
the following: 

There was a wealthy farmer in northern Missouri who 
would have nothing to do with a salesman or agent. Two or 
three of the boys from our company had called on him to try 
to sell him a lighting system and were turned away without 
even an interview. They told me about it and insisted that I 
try him. One very cold night in January I was passing his 
place and thought it was as good a time as I would get to 
give him a trial. As I went up to his porch, I saw him in one 
of the front rooms playing pool with a neighbor. In the 
other front room I saw two women which I took to be his 
wife and daughter. I rang the bell and he came to the door 
and said: “What do you want?” (in a gruff voice). When 
I told him my name and business he slammed the door, with¬ 
out a word. 

I turned to go but being very cold and having seen a good 
fire in the wife’s room and the determination not to be treated 
in such a manner caused me to turn again and try the door. 
I found it was not locked. I went in the hall to the wife’s 
door and knocked and she opened the door and asked me in. 
I found her to be a very pleasant lady and after I had warmed 
up a bit, told her what I was selling and asked her consent to 
let me demonstrate to HER. She granted permission and she 
and her daughter were very much pleased with the light and 
asked me to figure the cost of a plant for their home. About 
the time I had the figures completed the man came into the 
room (his friend having left). He gave me a cold look, and 




TALES OP UNUSUAL SALES 


101 


without speaking, picked up his paper and sat down in the 
back part of the room and started reading. After his eyes 
had become focused to the bright light, I turned my light out. 
There was a coal oil lamp burning in the room and he moved 
closer to it and blinked his eyes and tried to read. As soon 
as I thought he was getting so he could begin reading by the 
lamp I turned mine on again, and after a while off again. 
After teasing him for about an hour in this manner, being 
by this time thoroughly warm and very much elated over the 
fact that I had got in the house and made a demonstration, 
but not hoping to make a sale, I packed up my outfit, bade 
the ladies good night and started for the door. Up to this 
time he had not spoken. I had opened the door and was 
passing through it when he said (in the same rough voice), 
‘ ‘ Do you put a chandelier in each room with that outfit ? ’ ’ I 
said, “Yes.” He said, “How much would it cost me to light 
this house with it ? 9 ’ Having the order already figured up and 
written, I set my case down and got the order out and handed 
it to him. He looked it over for a minute and said, “Where 
do I sign?” I showed him, he signed it and I bade him and 
his family good night, feeling that I had won a victory. 






TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 


102 


A LITTLE FLATTERY WON HIM 

By E. V. Godley 

T HE best sale I ever made was, by the way, my FIRST 
sale; my first day as a salesman, and has paid me big 
dividends ever since. 

After graduating from high school I went into my father’s 
office as his private stenographer, taking my stenographic 
course at night. Father was engaged in the wholesale lumber 
business and it was necessary for him to travel a great deal 
of the time. After a little more than a year in the office 1 felt 
that I should travel and sell the lumber and father remain 
in the office. I was then in my twentieth year and had never 
had any sales experience. My father felt that I was too young 
and did not know enough about the lumber business; however, 
after weeks of persuasion father finally consented to let me 
try the road for a week. He made up my route sheet for the 
coming week, and early the following Monday morning I left 
for the first town I was to visit. My father had been in the 
lumber business for many years and was known by all of the 
dealers; therefore, I felt it would be easy for me to get orders. 

The first dealer on whom I called had years before been a 
partner with my father in the retail business, which fact I 
knew; however, I had never met the gentleman. When I 
walked into his office on that Monday morning and introduced 
myself he was very cordial and seemed glad to meet me, but 
when he asked me what lie could do for me and I informed 
him I was soliciting orders, he immediately changed from 
the pleasant to the most unpleasant attitude towards me and 
said something to the effect that he did not have any business 
for me and that I was wasting my time. He was very pro¬ 
fane; in fact, almost abusive and I considered it very dis¬ 
courteous and could not understand why he had completely 
changed his attitude towards me when I had offered no offense. 












103 


TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 


I was young, impetuous and possessed a very high temper. 
Naturally, my first impulse was to resent the uncouth re¬ 
marks directed at me; however, I decided, owing to this man 
having been a partner and then a good friend of my father’s, 
that I should overlook what he said. I soon turned the con¬ 
versation from lumber to other topics, and as it was then 
almost noon, I asked Mr. J. to take dinner with me. This 
immediately brought on more “trouble,” for he profanely 
remarked that he NEVER accepted any favors from sales¬ 
men ; he could not be subsidized by any salesman. I, of course, 
tried to explain that I merely wanted his company for dinner, 
etc., but it was useless to offer any explanation. 

After trying to assure him that my invitation to dinner 
was not with any idea of getting him to give me an order, 
though he did not offer any apologies, or accept my explana¬ 
tion, I left his office very much “down-cast” and sorry that 
I had attempted the art of selling. I went to the hotel where 
I took stock of myself, trying to formulate some plan to again 
approach Mr. J. I could not see wherein I was wrong, nor 
could I think of any way to return to see him, without per¬ 
haps causing trouble. 

Soon dinner was announced. After eating a good dinner 
I decided to return to see Mr. J. since I could not get out of 
the town until about 4 p. m. But it was hard to get up 
enough courage to return, for I felt I would again receive Mr. 
J.’s abusive language which, however, had never been per¬ 
sonal. I thought I should TRY AGAIN, as I did not want to 
give up on my first prospect. But for the life of me I could 
not decide just what I would say or do when I returned. 
I was determined to see him again, and when I w r alked into 
his office I found him in his easy chair with his feet upon his 
desk. Without moving he said in a very rough voice: “You 
back here again?” 

I replied: “Yes, Mr. J., I returned to visit with you until 
train time and, if agreeable, I would like to make an inspec¬ 
tion of your yard, for I am anxious to get ideas, and have 
heard that you have a most modern and up-to-date yard 
here. ’ ’ 












104 


TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 


This little bit of “flattery” seemed to soften him, and he 
got up out of his chair and said he would be glad to take me 
through the yard. Now he did have a very modern yard; 
everything, except heavy timbers, was under shed, and the 
arrangement easy for loading. I, of course, passed compli¬ 
ments upon the yard; all the while making mental notes of 
many items he was very low on; some he did not have in stock 
at all. After ten or fifteen minutes in the yard, most of my 
conversation being complimentary to him, we returned to the 
office. 

My desire was to immediately begin my sales effort to 
secure orders for items he did not have, but instead I told 
Mr. J. that the mill stocks were badly broken, many items not 
being in stock; that I was sure the dealers would have a big 
trade the coming fall (then about 45 days off). Then I 
pulled out the mill stocksheets and called attention to the fact 
that our mill had a good assortment of all lengths in the 
items that he did not have in stock (but did not tell him that 
I knew he did not have a stock of same)—the items I had 
made mental notes of. Soon he asked me for prices on these 
items as well as others, which I promptly quoted him. 

Mr. J. had now become very docile and quite agreeable in 
voice and manner, and I casually remarked that I was sure 
our stock of the items I had mentioned would soon be 
exhausted and many dealers disappointed in not getting their 
supply of same. He asked to see the stocksheet, which I 
handed to him. Soon he began putting down some figures, 
and he then turned to me and said: “SHIP ME the follow¬ 
ing.” When he had finished his list I had orders for FIVE 
(5) carloads of lumber; more than I had expected to sell 
him before getting off at his station. 

I left Mr. J. a copy of the order, thanked him for the busi¬ 
ness and the courtesies shown me, etc., and told him that we 
appreciated his business very much and would expect him to 
wire or phone us collect should he need any additional stock 
before my next trip. I caught my train at 4 o’clock and 
landed at the next town, a few hours later, filled with the 
idea that IT PAYS NEVER TO QUIT. 





TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 105 


This was my FIRST sale as well as MY BEST SALE and 
from it I gained a most valuable lesson: never argue or get 
out of humor with a prospect; never be discouraged, but keep 
plugging and do NOT pass up the so-called GROUCH, or 
“hard-boiled’’ prospect. 





106 


TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 


CRACKED A HARD NUT 

By Morris Kugler 

O NE of the most difficult sales in my experience was con¬ 
summated on August 10, in the teeth of almost insur¬ 
mountable obstacles brought about through no fault 
of mine. When a salesman takes over territory, along with 
some of the sweets he has much of the bitter to swallow, 
through the errors of commission or omission of his predeces¬ 
sor. 

On the 16th of August I rolled into the town of G-, 

and the first man I called on, Mr. Blank, greeted me when 1 
made my mission known with such a storm as would have 
made any but the most hardened and callous veteran turn tail. 
He was a user of one of our earlier products but announced 
most emphatically that never would he deal with us again. 
He was laboring under a grievance, real or imaginary, that 
one of our former salesmen had pulled a raw deal on him. I 
did not dispute his contention, agreed with him that he was a 
victim of man’s inhumanity to man, and then asked him if 
he had anything personal against me. He said, “No, but I 
won’t do business with a concern who employs men of the 
other fellow’s type.” I told him that we sold our goods all 
over the United States; that we could not keep an eagle eye on 
all our men at all times on the road; that where we found a 
man guilty of such action as lie claimed this individual was, 
that that gentleman’s career with us was abruptly and un¬ 
ceremoniously ended, and that the fact that the party in 
question was no longer with us proved that no doubt Mr. 
Blank was right. 

Mr. Blank seemed somewhat appeased, but said that any¬ 
how my competitor had called on him recently and had 
favorably impressed him with his line and that, he expected 
another visit from the same competitor shortly and had 
made up his mind to close a deal with him. I said, “All 







TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 


107 


right, Mr. Blank, buy his machine if you wish, but won’t you 
have a look at mine while I’m here, out of curiosity, if noth¬ 
ing else?’ He said. “Oh, what’s the use; I’ll not buy any¬ 
thing from your company so why waste my time and yours? 
You can go elsewhere and perhaps do business but you" won’t 
here with me.” 

“Very well, then,” I answered, “here’s the machine you 
won’t buy,” and without his permission succeeded in getting 
the machine on his counter, and prepared for the “Battle of 
the Century.” 

I took that machine apart, showed the tremendous strides 
of progress in construction we have made since the advent of 
our earlier model he was using, and dwelt in particular on 
those points of superiority peculiarly our own and which I 
knew were lacking in my competitor’s machine. When I was 
through I knew I had him sold on our machine, but still in 
the back of his head there was lurking the rankling sense of 
injustice which nothing seemed potent enough to efface. 

I then attacked him from another angle. “Mr. Blank,” I 
said, “suppose you had another store instead of just one and 
that the clerk in your absence had stepped on a customer’s 
corns, would you not consider it unfair to you if that cus¬ 
tomer had refused to listen to reason when you tried to restore 
his good will, and what would you think of him if he with¬ 
drew his patronage and insisted on dealing with another 
merchant from whom he was getting inferior goods and pay¬ 
ing higher prices? You can see for yourself that our new 
machine is the one you want.” Not receiving any response, 
I took it for granted that silence was consent and continued: 
“So let’s get together.” But he answered, “Nevermore!” 

What’s holding this man up, I wondered. I had him against 
the ropes, out on his feet, but he wouldn’t go down. Here was 
a living example of what Byron had in mind when he wrote: 
“Time at length makes all things even, and if we do hut wait 
the hour, there never yet was human power, which can evade 
if unforgiven, the patient hate and vigil long of him who 
treasures up a wrong.” I decided that my only chance in this 
final round was to throw down my guard, leave myself 




TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 


108 


temporarily wide open, and measure him for the soporific 
wallop. This I proceeded to do. 

It is a human failing that we resent being preached to by 
one whom we believe is assuming a ‘‘holier than thou” atti¬ 
tude. I determined to come down from my superior perch 
to his level, to stoop to conquer, and to appeal to his nobility 
of character. 

“Mr. Blank,” I said, “I can’t blame you in a way for 
taking the stand you ’re taking, because if I were in your place 
I would have no further dealings with a company any one of 
whose representatives had treated me as you claim you were 
treated, and I say this as a representative of this very con¬ 
cern. Why? Because I’m built that way, as pretty near 
every Tom, Dick and Harry is built; I believe in the ‘eye 
for an eye ’ doctrine. But you, Mr. Blank, have been taught: 
‘If thine enemy smite thee, turn the other cheek,’ and here’s 
a wonderful opportunity for you to practice this teaching 
of heaping coals of fire on our heads—and incidentally bene¬ 
fit yourself.” 

At last I saw the gleam of the light of understanding in 
his eyes. He was going down, down, down. He’s out. I 
counted the fatal ten over his prostrate body, and staggered 
out with the championship prize—his order and check. 





TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 


109 


MY MOST SATISFACTORY SALE 

By A. E. Charlesworth 

T HE most satisfactory sale I ever made was in a 
Nebraska town and involved the small sum of fifty dol¬ 
lars. 

On my previous trip I had sold this man an instrument 
for fifty dollars, and before my next visit the price of the 
instrument had been reduced to thirty-five dollars. 

He was a hard-headed and fiery Dutchman. He insisted 
upon a rebate between the price sold of $50 and the reduced 
price of $35 and he was apparently set on getting it or forever 
boycotting both myself and my house. 

He was a jeweler and I finally used this argument: 

“Suppose you were to sell a man a watch today at $15 
and make a profit of $5 and two or three months after you 
were able to buy that watch so that you could sell it for $12 
and still make your margin of profit. Do you think it would 
be your duty either to yourself or your customer to hand him 
the profit you had made on your first sale?” 

He agreed it would not be sane policy. Then I said, “We 
are in the same position regarding that instrument. When I 
sold you that machine, the selling price of fifty dollars was 
based on manufacturing cost. Now, through improved 
methods, production, etc., we are able to sell it at $35 and still 
maintain our profit, but the instrument sold you was produced 
on higher cost and before price reduction.” 

He saw the point and instead of throwing me out of his 
store, not only gave me a nice order but accompanied me to 
the train to say good-bye to me and I held him as a customer 
for about the ten years I made that territory. 

This sale proved to me that an apparently hopeless situa¬ 
tion can be overcome with the proper kind of thinking. 






110 


TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 


EDUCATED THE BUYER ON A FUNDA¬ 
MENTAL PRINCIPLE 


By H. W. J arrow 


NE of the largest manufacturers in our field had a 



contract with the American Felt Company, which was 


v "*"^ taken in competition with their old supplier. While 
this contract was in force they developed a new product, with 
used parts, which did not come under the above-mentioned 
contract. These parts were placed on a competitive basis 
and bids asked for. In each case the old supplier, who was 
“out,” would quote prices which did not afford a legitimate 
profit. It was merely a ease of their trying to buy their way 


m. 


These prices were placed before the American Felt Com¬ 
pany salesman with the advice that he could have the order 
if he met these prices. We must bear in mind that this con¬ 
cern felt very friendly toward the American Felt Company 
because of their treatment and service on the contract which 
they had placed. As stated, the prices at which the competi¬ 
tor was taking the business showed no profit and sometimes 
a loss. With the knowledge that the American Felt Company 
could manufacture as cheap or cheaper than competitors, it 
was a question of retaining the good-will of this account, re¬ 
taining their business, but retaining it at a profit. 

The writer jumped on a train, and met the purchasing 
agent of this concern, with the salesman. He stated the 
danger of the competitive game, such as the buyer was play¬ 
ing. He held up the fact that a source of supply could not 
be a reliable source of supply unless it was allowed to make 
a profit that was legitimate, both to the buyer and seller. He 
proved his point of being able to manufacture and sell goods, 
quality considered, at as good a price or better than could be 
had in the market. He then proved the point of unreliability 






TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 


113 


of a source which was compelled to meet a certain price. 
This source would be unreliable in any of the following ways: 

They would meet a price and would furnish material which 
was not up to standard. In other words, taking their profit 
in the manufacture of material, and not furnishing what was 
originally ordered—in which case they would prove unre- 
1 iable. 

They would take the order at a price named by the buyer, 
and furnish material as ordered, but if they did enough of 
this business, because the orders showed loss or no profit, they 
would be compelled to go out of business—in which case they 
would, also, be an unreliable source of supply. 

The third alternative on the part of this seller would be 
to refuse to compete for the business and drop out of that 
particular line of business entirely, in which case they would 
not be a source of supply and would take from the market the 
largest manufacturer of that particular commodity, with a 
resultant rise in prices of all its competitors, in which case it 
would revert to the injury of the buyer. 

In other words, it was proven to the buyer that a source 
of supply must have a legitimate profit. The buyer in this 
case readily saw the light and conceded the fact that the 
source of supply must have profits which are legitimate, and 
to this end they are sending their orders to the American 
Felt Company today without asking competing bids, or if 
they do, there is a leeway allowed for the fact that the sup¬ 
plier may be trying to buy their way into this concern at 
prices which allow no profit or show a loss. 

The account is now on a profit-paying basis. 










112 


TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 


CASHED IN ON COURAGE 

By Douglas Mack 

I T occurred when I was a recruit. I had worked inside with 
my concern for two years, to master details thoroughly, 
and was then sent out “on the road,” in a territory that 
had been in charge of a very competent salesman. Being 
given information regarding trade in Blank City, I was 
advised particularly regarding a Mr. B-, a con¬ 

sistent customer. He was the possessor of a fearful, ofttimes 
uncontrollable temper, I was informed. In connection with 
his main business, he also operated a livery stable. 

I called on him, and it was apparent to me that my youth¬ 
fulness did not appeal to him. During our conversation he 
showed me a newspaper item wherein some of the town’s 
eminent citizens were planning the organization of a Cruelty 
to Animals Prevention League, mentioning him as a chief 
offender. Indignantly he declared defiance. This angered 
me but with a large order in sight I kept quiet. Eventually 
the order was written and signed. Soon afterward a stable¬ 
man led a horse into the courtyard, plainly visible from the 
office window, and began whipping it unmercifully. The 
blood surged to my head. 

‘ ‘ Have him stop that, ’ ’ I demanded of Mr. B-. 

“Not on your life,” he replied, “and I’d like to see some¬ 
one else try to.” 

“I will,” I snapped. 

“You’ll lose that order, if you do,” came the threat. 

I rushed out and vainly ordered the man to cease with the 
brutality. There was but one other course, and with the 
aid of my gymnasium experience, I took it. That one well- 
placed blow succeeded where words had failed. Then I went 
into the office and deposited the written order on the desk. 
“I’ll lose my job, too,” I remarked, and walked out. 






TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 


113 


When I returned to headquarters later, the order, with a 
letter of apology and admiration, had preceded me. In the 
years to follow this man became a protector of animals and 
one of my best friends. To me, this sale, and the subsequent 
results, will always be my best sale. 





114 TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 


TOOK SIXTY DAYS! 

By E. H. Wyman 

T HE best sale I ever made is still paying me a profit— 
has paid me thousands of dollars since the day I made 
the sale—and will in the years to come pay me many 
thousands of dollars more—a sale that took me sixty days 
to make and incidentally was the hardest sale I ever made as 
well as the best. 

When I started selling I was like many another man. I 
considered myself a salesman, by simply electing I’d be one 
—never thinking of the results a doctor or a lawyer would 
get did he start being a doctor or a lawyer by but deciding 
to become such. 

I started to work—full of pep—all hopped up with the idea 
I was a SALESMAN. Had my catalogue all dolled up, 
beautiful cards, a carefully prepared list of prospects. In 
fact, a most wonderfully prepared and perfected plan and 
a three days’ knowledge of my line of goods. 

I was . already planning upon getting a better furnished 
apartment—in fact, had been to see an auto agency, as I 
surely would soon be able to afford a car. 

I was going to knock them dead. Me, a college graduate, a 
live wire, a real salesman—nothing to it. 

Well, my first call was at the news stand to get a morning 
paper. The second, a good hotel with comfortable lobby 
chairs, where I perused the paper. The third call was at the 
hotel cigar stand where I sold myself a fine cigar, then back 
to a more comfortable chair. The cigar finished I called upon 
a good shoe shining establishment and had my shoes polished. 
By this time it was nearly noon so decided to knock off work 
and go up to the Athletic Club for lunch. 

After a good lunch I decided the list of prospects I had was 





TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 


115 


comprised of men who were big men, and would undoubtedly 
be out playing golf in the afternoon so felt it would be good 
sales policy to call upon them in the forenoon. This wise 
decision prevented me from wasting my afternoon so I picked 
out a good vaudeville show where I thought I ’d get some good 
ideas as to approach by watching the actors make their 
entrance. 

Went home very well satisfied with my day’s work, had 
been busier than I had been for weeks and felt much better 
for my strenuous day. 

The next and the succeeding days I was unable to see any 
of my prospects, for I was too busy looking up data, getting 
dope on firms who used my goods, getting up lists of prospects 
and making wonderful sales from the smoke of a good cigar 
as it floated up over the palms in the hotel lobby court. 

Finally I found time to make a few calls, but when I got 
my hand on the door knob I took a real look at the door and 
something in the style of lettering gave me a real football 
hunch that the time was not right for that particular pros¬ 
pect to be called on, and just in time I caught myself from 
going in and spoiling a good sale—by not waiting for the 
psychological moment. 

Thusly slipped away ten days and the eleventh I awakened 
to find it raining, gloomy and cold, a bad day for a salesman 
to work. The idea of going into business establishments wet 
and bedraggled I felt would be the height of sales folly—so 
turned over and took a little nap. 

Finally I got up, dressed and while shaving I took a good 
look at my funny face in the mirror, and somehow got look¬ 
ing myself over. Something inside me said to my reflection 
in the mirror, “You are a fine salesman—just a bum dressed 
up like a salesman. No guts, no ambition, no nothing; just a 
mannikin-minded, backboneless bum with a few good clothes 
and a few dollars, God knows where from. ” 

This was a rather hard line of talk to be handed to my 
funny reflection in the glass, but it started me thinking. 







116 


TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 


I sat down right there, and took my first inventory of my¬ 
self. I didn’t find much of a stock of goods, mostly shop¬ 
worn, damaged, cheap junk; about twenty cents on the dollar 
was my conclusion. Yet way inside the heart of me I believed 
I was a salesman. I believed I was master of my own destiny. 
I believed I could have the things in life I most desired if I’d 
pay the price. 

I took from my secret strong box the ideals, the beliefs my 
mother inculcated in me, taught me, sang to me at her breast, 
on her knee, and I found the strong box was rust eaten, that 
I’d let those treasures stay there for years unused, till I’d 
lost track of them, forgotten I once possessed them. I sorted 
them over one by one, each with its sweet memory of the 
giver, and when I finished I was astonished at all I once 
had possessed—the store of riches I had within and had failed 
to use for my own benefit. 

I took off my coat—hung it over a chair—pulled up another 
chair—went out into the hall—put my hand on the door knob 
and found my wrist was no longer too stiff to turn the knob— 
walked in—up to my coat over the chair, shook the arm of the 

coat saying, ‘ ‘ Good morning, Mr.-, I fin your better 

self, the man your mother thinks you are, and I want to talk 
to you for a few minutes. I know you have the time and I 
have a few things I am going to sell you.” 

I started in. I was soon perspiring with the energy I used 
in selling my coat; ambition, right thinking, right living, 
organized effort, but before I finished, and it took me two 
hours, I sold my coat the idea of going to work and I got 
the name on the dotted line. 

The conditions of the sale called for instant effort down and 
fifteen minutes a day in the mornings for sixty days selling 
my coat. The next morning I made my first payment with 
fifteen minutes’ interest and each morning thereafter for sixty 
days I sold my coat, shook its arm, and pounded the chair. 
I sold it study, calls, work, exercise, regular eating and regular 
living. At the end of sixty days I had some habits; walking 
the floor reading aloud books on salesmanship, psychology, 
will power, memory and the habit once formed became auto- 






TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 117 


matic. So I no longer make sales to my coat, but I eat my 
morning mental food as regularly as my breakfast and my 
mind demands it now the same as my stomach. 

Selling myself on the idea of going to work was the best 
sale I ever made and incidentally the hardest, but the most 
profitable. 





118 


TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 


if. 


LOGIC WINS 

By J. M. Oliphant 

I WAS recently called in on a competitive deal, when the 
prospective buyer asked me frankly the weak points in 
my competitor’s line, with the statement that my com¬ 
petitor had volunteered this information about our goods, 
and he wished to check the two up. 

Mr. Blank, if you were hunting duck today, and shot into a 
flock of them, killing three, and wounding one, to which ones 
would you give the second shot ? The wounded one, of course. 
And why? Because you had killed the other ones and the 
wounded one would get away. That’s why it draws your 
fire. 

In this case, you realize the other competitors are out of 
the case, and my competitor, also, is aware of the same thing, 
and I am the wounded duck which calls for another shot. He 
is afraid that I will get away with something, and were I 
familiar enough with the weak points in his line, I would not 
tell you but go direct to the manufacturer and make capital 
out of my knowledge by remedying the same. 

I got the business. 








TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 


119 


A RATHER STRANGE INTRODUCTION 

By Hugo Bruhn, Sweden 

1 SUBMIT this story because it proves the statement that 
a right introduction has a certain effect on the following 
interview. As all travellers know the first moments might 
be the most important and if you are the strongest then you 
are apt to remain the strongest throughout the sale. The 
first words will pave the way or bar it and on this special occa¬ 
sion I firmly believe I would have been unsuccessful had I 
acted otherwise; at least it was the quickest source to take. 

I was travelling with a proposition where it was necessary 
to see the mistress of the house, for she was my prospect; 
the “hubby’’ came in later on but I simply had to see my 
lady first. 

As travellers with like propositions know there are diffi¬ 
culties in obtaining a personal interview with the mistress 
and obstacles represented by porters, maids, etc., were fre¬ 
quent. One day when ringing the bell the maid who opened 
the door was ready to shut the door on me but I checked her 
by explaining that I did not call for her but rather for her 
mistress. “Please tell your mistress that I want to keep my 
appointment/’ whereupon I went in, deposited my case on 
a table and waited for the appearance of my lady. Yes, steps 
were heard approaching, but instead of my expected prospect 
her husband is rambling down the corridor and while coming 
up to where I stood he shook his head to indicate that they 
would not have anything of my affairs and to make this still 
more prominent he approached me with both his hands held 
up in front of him in a sort of a refusal. 

Just as he came up to me and on the verge of speaking I 
seized my opportunity as well as both his outstretched hands 

in a firm handshake saying: “Good morning, Mr.-, 

really, it is awfully nice of you to receive me in this cordial 
manner. It is not in every place they greet me with both their 














120 TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 


hands stretched out in welcome.” And with a hearty hand¬ 
shake I let go his hands and picked up my case, my manners 
indicating that we should now proceed to the inner room. 

Mr.-stared at me quite speechless for a moment 

and finally said with a broad grin: “Of all the impudence, 
well, I suppose that you shall have your way this time. Come 
along, sir.” 

Needless to say I succeeded in making the sale, which I 
take it was entirely due to the lucky chance in the meeting of 
the man, for he evidently was resolved to refuse my admit¬ 
tance only my somewhat singular introduction disarmed him. 







TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 


121 


MADE A BET TO GET ATTENTION 

By E. L. Daughtridge 

1 THINK the best sale I ever made, or one of them, at least, 
was as follows: 

I was selling a line to retail merchants through the job¬ 
bers and a line that was booked in the Spring for Fall de¬ 
livery. I was working the trade with the jobbers’ salesman 
and we called on a man whom I had sold some two years be¬ 
fore. I shook hands with him and pulled my samples on him 
and he told me my line was no good and not in the class of a 
competitive line that he had sold the past season. 

I told him I would bet him ten dollars my line was far 
superior to the competitive line and I would prove it to him 
and let him be the judge. He at once put up his ten dollars 
and I covered it. 

I went into details with both lines and took each line, side 
by side, and compared them before his eyes and in less than 
ten minutes’ time I had won my bet as he admitted that my 
line was far superior and that he had made a statement he 
could not prove. I, of course, gave him back his ten dollars 
and he gave me a nice order for my line. 






122 


TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 


INSPIRED A PESSIMISTIC PROSPECT 

By Fred J. Lenk 

I N the shadowy spring of 1921 1 was selling a retail 

specialty and happened to call on B- who was 

doing a very brisk business, something unusual at that 
time. After selling him, I noted that he had injected the 
slogan of 1921 into his business. 

My next call brought me to a likely looking store, but after 
“saleing” in, was disgusted at seeing the clerk leaning against 
the counter trimming his nails and the proprietor reading a 
newspaper. I also noted the unkempt condition of everything 
in general. 

But I wanted business, and so I began selling him. He tried 
to bluff me with : 

“I don’t want to see or hear of your-stuff.” 

“Look here, brother,” I said, “this is ‘good stuff.’ ” 

And again I began selling him. After convincing him that 
he needed my goods, he again took the offensive. 

‘ ‘ Business is on the bum — I can’t sell what I’ve got, let 
alone buying. So you might as well pack up and clear out 
and do it now. ’ ’ 

Mad clear through, I packed up my samples and prepared 
to go when a happy thought struck me. 

“Say! Get your hat, let me show you some business.” 
Quite surprised he acquiesced. So I headed him for the 

booming business of B- where we watched for half an 

hour the steady stream of business. 

‘ ‘ See that ? Is business on the bum ? Look at the condition 
of that store? And oh, Boy! look how they buy!” On the 
way back I pointed to the rows of houses. ‘ ‘ There are people 
who need your goods, let them know you sell first-class goods. 
Why not put that clerk of yours to cleaning things up and 















TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 


123 


let him solicit orders from house to house in your neighbor¬ 
hood- And use my article as an introductory leader to show 
them you are up to date. Go after business and you ’ll get it.” 

He got a little sore when I mentioned “cleaning things up, ' 
but I just kept on. He thought hard for a few minutes and 
then signed the dotted line for a. small order. 1 told him it 
was just a starter and got him enthusiastic about trying out 
the plan 1 had outlined. Two weeks later I went out of mv 
way to see how things were coming. Everything was spick 
and span and an additional clerk was serving the trade. I, 
of course, got the glad hand, a permanent business friend, 
and a handsome order. 

I consider this my best sale as I sold an almost hopeless 
prospect and also gave him a service that probably saved his 
business from ruin. 











124 TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 


FOOTBALL TACTICS 

By R. Cohan 

B EFORE going to the office of the president of the S— 
C— Creamery Co., I took the time and trouble to ex¬ 
amine the concrete floors of the five story building—and 
I found them in good condition—for my concrete floor 
hardener. 

The middle-aged clerk in charge of the outer office listened 
politely to my request to see Mr. Hill, the president. 

“He is busy just now,’ 7 he informed me, “but I’ll ask him 
if he wants any of your stuff. What are you selling ? ’ ’ 

I did not like the idea of this dull, unenthusiastic gentle¬ 
man’s putting my case for me, but didn’t see how I could 
help it, so I told him I had an excellent concrete floor hard¬ 
ener, made by a reliable firm, and that the floors in the build¬ 
ing were certainly in need of repair. 

Through the door he left open, I heard him ask in a drawl¬ 
ing, indifferent tone of voice, “do you want any concrete 
floor hardener today, Mr. Hill?” 

“No!” promptly and positively replied the busy president. 

Before the clerk had had time to turn away, I was in the 
inner office. To the extreme astonishment of its occupants 
I cried out impulsively, “Mr. Hill, if you were lying across a 
railroad track, determined to die, and I came along and saw 
you, and you wouldn’t let me save you—by Jove, I’d bounce 
you on the bean and save you anyway! ’ ’ 

“What’s this? What’s this?” The youthful president 
grinned up at me, probably wondering from what lunatic 
asylum I had escaped. 

But I continued unabashed. “Mr. Hill, do you know that 
so far as your floors are concerned, you are committing sui¬ 
cide ? That they are going to rack and ruin ? That there are 






TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 125 


great big cracks and breaks in them? That they are just 
crumbling away, especially downstairs where the heavy truck¬ 
ing goes on? That inside of five years you’ll be having to 
lay new concrete floors throughout your plant?” 

Mr. Hill jumped up—was by my side in two counts—had 
linked his arm in mine in another. 

“Show me!” was all he said, as we marched off together, 
arm in arm. 

My first order from the S— C— Creamery Co. was for ten 
barrels of my floor hardener. Since then they have bought 
various other products that I handle. And Mr. Hill has 
become one of the best friends I have. 





TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 


126 


MADE THE DOCTOR SEE THE POINT 

By John E. Lukey 

T HERE are certain typewriters that are adapted for the 
use of professional people but which are not practical 
in the commercial field. The keyboard of this type 
varies from that of machines that are used for commercial 
purposes. 

The schools endeavor to fit their pupils for commercial life 
and train them on the standard keyboard. The result is that 
often professional men have difficulty in obtaining typists 
familiar with their machine. 

I called recently on a doctor who had engaged a new typist 
familiar with medical terms but not with the keyboard of 
the machine that he owned. I was able to place a machine 
in his office on the plea that operators with a medical knowl¬ 
edge were rare and that it would be to his advantage to give 
her a machine with which she was familiar. 

The young lady was pleased with the machine and informed 
me that it was the desire of her employer to turn in for part 
payment the machine they owned. The trade allowance on 
this machine was but $5.00. I realized that I would have 
some problem to trade the machine in at that price. I placed 
my machine on the typist’s desk and taking the doctor’s 
machine I entered his private office proposing to explain to 
him why a machine of this character would not be of value 
to other than a doctor. 

I informed him that his typist was very happy with her new 
machine and that I understood he desired to purchase it. The 
first question he asked was: 

“What will you allow me for my machine?” I proceeded 
to answer his question by telling him that we based our trade 
allowance on the re-sale value that the machine would have 
and that due to the fact that his machine was special, the use 





TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 


127 


of which was limited we could allow but $5.00. You can 
well imagine how he felt towards trading. He said: 

“I paid $115.00 for that machine but a few years ago and 
l guess that I can find a typewriter company that will allow 
me considerable more than that or Ill keep on hiring typists 
till I find one that will run it.” I realized that to sell my 
machine I must keep his out of the deal. 

I said: “Doctor, do you ever have a letter to write that is 
of such a character that you alone must write it?” He in¬ 
formed me that once in a while lie did have such a letter so 
I proceeded to sell him his own machine. I told him of its 
equipment peculiar to his profession and ended by telling 
him that I would hate to see him turn that machine in for 
such a small amount and that if he wrote but one letter a 
month he would never regret having retained the machine. 
I secured his order for my machine at list price. 


) 






128 


TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 


IT TOOK SALESMANSHIP 

By R. Jones 

I N March I called on a Mr. M- of B- to sell him 

future canned goods; he said that he would buy no future 
goods this year, I tried hard to sell him, without success; 
in May I tried again. He told me that he had made up his 
mind and was not going to buy futures; he told me that 
many of the wholesale houses tried to get him to place an 
order for some of his requirements; they also were unsuccess¬ 
ful; I tried him again in July and he was firm as ever; he 
told me on this trip that they had all tried, and that he did 
not buy; I then told him that I would be back in the near 
future and that I was going to sell him; I also knew that I 
had to find a different way and different methods if I was 
to sell him. I came back early in August and told him that 
I wanted an order. He laughed and said if I sold him I was 
doing something that no one else could do; he also told me 
that I could save time by letting the matter drop. 

Then I drew to his mind the great importance of placing 
a future order by explaining to him that if all the merchants 
would buy goods just as they wanted them, the pack would 
be so small and the prices would be so high due to the fact 
that no one would place heavy orders with the packer, that 
the packer could not go to the bank and borrow any money 
from the banks because he had no bookings for futures, there¬ 
fore they could not place orders with the farmer because the 
bank could not get security from the packer, and the farmer 
would not plant such goods as are perishable, therefore all 
foodstuff would go sky high in prices in a very short time; 
it must also be taken into consideration that we must all 
work together along these lines if we want good goods at a 
fair price. “Mr. M., I think my argument is very plain and 
it is true and to the point, and I am going to take your future 
order today because it will be good for all of us; we will 






TALES OP UNUSUAL SALES 


129 


start in on extra small peas as you have a very good sale on 
the better grade of fancy goods. ’ ’ I then started in and sold 
him four pages of futures, and also sold him a nice order for 
immediate delivery. When we were all through he said that 
he did not think it possible for any one to sell him a future 
order this year. 

I also want to make it very clear that Mr. M. is not a be¬ 
ginner in the grocery business. This same store has been a 
grocery store for more than thirty years. 

That’s Bringing Home the Beech Nut. 





130 


TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 


OVERCAME THE CUT PRICE MENACE 

By L. P. Wrenn 

T HE company for which I work, a wholesale house in a 
small city, has been menaced for the last few months, as 
have many other legitimate jobbers, by price cutters. 
A jobber in a neighboring city has decided that two per cent 
is enough profit to do business on, so he is giving a ten per 
cent cash discount. This naturally catches the eyes of our 
largest merchants and it was with difficulty that we landed 
any big orders from these concerns. This was the condition 
of affairs when one morning our town salesman came in the 
store all blue and discouraged. He told me that Mr. Smith, 
our largest retailer, needed a good many canned goods but 
he would not buy them from us as he wanted the ten per cent 
discount which our cut rate rival in the nearby town would 
give him. My first impulse was to go on with my work and 
let the salesman fight his own battles. But upon second 
thought I knew that I would have similar cases to deal with 
myself as store salesman and if I couldn’t “Bring home the 
beech-nut” I had better ask for my check, get me an ox and 
go to plowing. So I told the city salesman to finish my work 
and I set out armed with an order book to fight a ten shooter 
(ten per cent) with nothing but a muzzle loading two shooter 
(two per cent). 

Mr. Smith always seemed to think a good deal of me but 
I knew that he didn’t like me one per cent’s worth, much 
less eight. After passing a few remarks on the weather and 
the conditions of business, etc., as all salesmen are supposed 
to do, I told him that I knew he was in the market for some 
canned goods, and that I wanted to send them to him. Then, 
of course, I had to listen to the same tale which he had told 
the other salesman about the ten per cent discount. After he 
had finished, I gave him my prices on the articles desired 
and showed him where they netted him from tweiffy-five to 





TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 


131 


lifty per cent profit, which he admitted was a fair profit. 
Then I undertook to show him where he didn’t have to buy 
six months supply of any one article from me, but if he 
bought drop shipments of all the desired goods he would have 
to carry three times the stock that it was necessary for him to 
carry. And that by letting us carry the stock for him he 
would have more capital to enlarge his business with. Then 
1 reminded him that we gave him a two per cent discount 
every ten days and that he could use the money tied up in 
the large stock and turn it over enough times to make up for 
the extra discount. 

Then I called his attention to the fact that there are always 
delays in getting stuff from a distance, and if he ordered all 
his goods that he would often run out of something before it 
reached him and thereby he would injure his trade. While 
he thought now that in such a case he could run up to the 
local jobber and get it, yet if everyone in town should decide 
to order their goods there would not be a jobber in a short 
while. I also told him of the constant losses and damage in 
local shipments for which claims must be made and waited 
for sometimes six months or a year. 

I saw that what I had said had put him to thinking so I 
shot my last shot at him. I asked him who paid the taxes in 
this town to keep up the streets ? And who keeps the schools 
going where his children can get a good education without 
having to go away to school ? Who supports the churches and 
preachers in their work of spreading the gospel of Christianity 
and right relations of man to man ? And finally I asked him 
whom he expected to visit him and speak words of cheer when 
old age overtook him? He decided that our cut rate jobber 
would do none of these things and in fact he finally said that 
he didn’t believe a concern could last long on two per cent 
profit anyway and then he would have to buy his goods at 
home, so he might as well start now. So I carried a “good 
big Beech-nut” back to the store with me. 







132 


TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 


BUCKED THE SON-IN-LAW 

• f 

By C. C. Morrison 

T HERE is a certain oil refiner in our city who occasion¬ 
ally buys some of our equipment from time to time and 
loans it to a customer providing the customer uses his 
gasoline and oil exclusively. 

This refiner had practically closed a contract with his cus¬ 
tomer, which called for the installation of two pumps and 
tanks. I had been working with the refiner for some time and 
everything was going along very nicely. About the middle 
of the month, one Saturday afternoon, the refiner ’phoned 
me to come over and see him Monday morning and he would 
give me the order. Monday morning I was on the job bright 
and early, all set to write a nice order. 

Just as I was about to go into the refiner’s office one of his 
men stopped me and told me he had some bad news for me, 
whereupon he produced their contract with their customer 
and showed me where my equipment had been originally 
specified, partially erased and the name of my competitor’s 
equipment substituted. I was disagreeably surprised, but 1 
went into the office to see the refiner. He was very cordial 
and came right out and told me that his son-in-law had started 
to sell for my competitor that morning and of course he 
wmuld have to give him the business. I told him I could 
understand his position, etc., and went out. 

This particular installation was to be in a very prominent 
place and I did not feel I could afford to have my competitor’s 
equipment in such a prominent place, so I immediately went 
to the refiner’s customer and sold him on the idea that my 
equipment was what was needed. The result was that he 
refused to sign the contract with the refiner unless he would 
specify my equipment. I stayed right on the job all day 
Monday and all day Tuesday. Tuesday night the refiner’s 
customer began to weaken and I immediately went to the 





TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 


133 


landlord and sold him on the idea that my equipment was 
the ideal equipment as far as safety, etc., were concerned, 
and he refused to let his tenant handle gasoline on his prem¬ 
ises unless he used my equipment. 

Wednesday afternoon the refiner called me and asked me 
to come over. I went over and he asked me what the idea was 
in blocking him. I showed him that I had done nothing but 
boost his product, that I had not taken any of his competitors 
to the job and all in all had played cleanly, but also told him 
my company paid me to create demand for their product, so, 
of course, if I did not they would get someone that would. 
He told me he would meet me the next morning, Thursday, 
on the job at nine o’clock. I was there and we all discussed 
the layout generally, but he had told me the previous after¬ 
noon that he would not take bread out of his own daughter’s 
mouth, so it looked as though I was out of luck. We were 
together about an hour, he leaving me at 10:15 o’clock and 
saying nothing about seeing me any further, and at 10:45 I 
walked into his office again. He paid no attention to me 
and let me twiddle my thumbs for an even hour. Finally he 
turned around and coldly told me that if I had anything 
especially to say that he had three minutes I could have. I 
thanked him and laid the order down all written out and 
suggested that we close up. He looked me over a minute or 
two and reached for his pen, signed up with the remark that 
I had won and when he finished signing he remarked that 
he was going to tell his son-in-law to resign that night as 
he would not see him working a job where the road was so 
rough. 

I apologized for sticking around so much but told him I 
knew he understood that I had to get the business to hold 
my job. He smiled and we parted very good friends. 






134 


TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 








IT PAYS TO STICK 

By Joseph Kohart, Jr. 

W HEN the “Other Fellow” who hands out the “just 
as good” line of talk actually has the order signed 
and a cash deposit to cover, the average salesman 
bucking him would probably feel that he is “licked” and 
argue himself into believing that he did the best he could. 

But—LISTEN TO THIS: 

The-Company had signed an order for a Multigraph 

machine from a dealer in used office equipment, and paid a 
deposit of seventy-five dollars on it with the understanding 
that the balance was to be paid as soon as the machine proved 
satisfactory. 

When I found this out I felt the joy of a real battle for 
business in my veins, and decided to fight it through. The 

- people, one of the largest concerns in my territoiy, 

were certainly worth while landing. 

I called on them and thoroughly impressed upon the Gen¬ 
eral Manager the fact that the American Multigraph Sales 
Company had built up an enviable reputation for honesty, 
integrity and service when it came to dealing with prospects 
and users. I explained that here was a second-hand dealer 
who sold a Multigraph to them with the idea that if the 
machine proved a failure, the blot would not be on his person 
but on the Multigraph and the organization behind it. AVas 
that fair to us? 

I was told in view of the fact that the other order was 
signed and a deposit paid, it was of no use to do anything in 
the matter. Mr. General Manager had been told by this 
second-hand dealer that his machine was “just as good” as 
any other, and he would guarantee it. 

I called again the next day and brought a complete Multi¬ 
graph equipment with me. After assuring the General Man¬ 
ager very many times that he was under no obligation, I was 










TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 


135 


finally permitted to set up my machine in his office for a 
demonstration. This did not take place immediately, but 1 
advised the girl who was doing the multigraph work that if 
she cared to try my machine on her next job, she was at 
liberty to do so. 

A few days later I received a telephone call and was advised 
that my machine had been tried and did not work properly 
and I was requested to remove it. 

Again I wended my way to the-office and found that 

the Multigraph required only a small adjustment which could 
have been made by the operator if she had been properly in¬ 
structed. I received permission to leave my machine a while 
longer. 

Shortly after that I was advised that the machine bought 
from the second hand dealer was out of order, and after 
telephoning him for several days to repair it and to instruct 
their operator, and finding their calls in vain, they turned 
to me for help. 

I found the machine needed only a slight adjustment which 
I made in a minute, explaining the matter to the operator and 
General Manager. I did not say one word against the machine 
as it was in good condition, and I stated so. 

A week later the Purchasing Agent called me on the tele¬ 
phone advising me that the General Manager had left town 
for a few days, and that he being in charge while the G. M. 
was away, ordered me to take my machine out of the office 
at once as I was causing a great deal of trouble for him, 
on account of the other deal which had been put through. 
The P. A. stated very plainly that unless my machine were 
removed it would be thrown out into the lots. 

I advised him that I would remove it in a few days. 

I called three days later and found the General Manager 
back at his desk. Fortunately he was discussing the matter 
of direct mail advertising with the vice president of the 
company. I was advised that they had spent quite a sum of 
money on letter advertising but found the results very dis¬ 
appointing. 








136 


TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 


HERE WAS MY REAL CHANCE—I questioned them 
about their campaign and found out the main fault was their 
addressing these letters to different concerns all over the 
country who use steel tubing. 1 explained the matter to 
them in this way: 

“Gentlemen, if a letter soliciting business comes addressed 
to your concern, on whose desk is it placed?” 

Both replied, “THE PURCHASING AGENT’S.” 

I continued, “AND he after glancing at it places it in the 
files for future reference. Thus the man out in the shop 
who might be interested in the article that is being offered 
never gets the opportunity of considering it. Address your 
letters to individuals, in your particular case to engineers, 
master mechanics, and chemists.” 

“Easily said,” both of them replied, “But where are we 
going to get their names?” 

“There are chemists, engineers and mechanics clubs in 
nearly all fair sized cities. The secretaries of these organiza¬ 
tions will furnish you with these names gratis, but the value 
to you will be many thousand dollars.” 

A FEW DAYS LATER I RECEIVED MY ORDER 
AND WAS THANKED FOR MY PERSEVERANCE AND 
PATIENCE. 

The second hand dealer’s machine was crated and shipped 
back to him with the message that he could keep the seventy- 

five dollars deposit paid to him and the - Company 

would charge that amount up to experience with the follow¬ 
ing heading for that account: “NEVER BUY ANYTHING 
‘JUST AS GOOD.’ IN THE END THE REAL THING 
IS BY FAR CHEAPER.” 

Motto: “It’s never too late to give up—So Stick.” 








TALES OP UNUSUAL SALES 


137 


WOULDN’T TAKE “NO” 

By Fred Theiss 

D URING a period of wet wintry weather, the wild No¬ 
vember winds whistled a merry tune to the ‘‘overshoe” 
business, so I started out like Christopher Columbus— 
to discover some new territory. 

If there was anything “green” that winter, it was me 
because I knew absolutely nothing about finding new business 
for “overshoes” excepting, of course, that no matter where 
I went I would find people with feet, so I made it my business 
to follow bad weather and places where bad weather was 
predicted. 

Like an old sail boat, I was left to shift with the wind and 
if there was anything to do I would do it by the “hunch” 
instead of by experience. 

My first calling of instinct landed me and my samples in 
a fair-sized town downstate. The freight office greeted me 
with one hundred pairs of women’s and children’s overshoes 
in a nice box, and the town greeted me, for three days, with 
a fine list of overstocked shoestores, and, which were over¬ 
stocked before I came for the greetings. 

My legs were tired, and all I had left was “plenty of 
nerve” which I always depend upon as sort of a reserve force 
of energy. 

As all the shoestores were well stocked and prepared for 
the winter like a squirrel, I thought to myself, and to others, 
that as long as shoestores had shoes—what an awful boob I 
am trying to sell eggs to a chicken, especially when all the 
nests were filled. 

To skip some of my hard earned adventures and a bunch 
of fool mistakes I will describe the outcome that I went into. 

After constantly pestering the manager of the largest dry 





TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 


138 


goods store in town to put some of my overshoes on his 
counters, his verdict was turned over to me with cold rash 
dignity, forcefully conveyed with the simple word ‘'NO.” 

Days of future starvation seemed to stare me in the face 
and my menu subsided to thirty-cent meals, but as long as 
God gave man the right to “think,” I began to use that 
part of my anatomy which He gave us to “think with.” 

Why should an overshoe salesman get cold feet? 

The next day, after a night’s sleeplessness, I found my¬ 
self in that same manager’s office launching a new crisis. 1 
began to use suggestion of thoughts like a hypnotist, which 
information I got out of a book one time, but this fellow was 
so hard to hynotize I thought I would be in a spell before 
he was. 

In the climax of my efforts he pushed some papers around 
recklessly on his desk and said, “Now why do I want to buy 
overshoes w r hen there is a shoe store two doors north of here, 
and a half dozen across the street ? ’* 

I saw one big question mark and then said, “Well, that 
shows that this is a good district for footwear.” 

“If you are a good salesman,” he continued, “you can 
readily see that I am like a piece of paper between two fires 
as far as competition in shoes is concerned.” 

It was the psychological moment and I didn’t want to give 
him a chance to call it finished, so to switch the proposition 
from business I said, “No, sir! You are like a piece of 
asbestos. And those fires are merely smudges that you can 
smother if you sit on them.” I put on my best look of 
sincerity. 

A defeated grin broke out on his stern business face and 
one could see he was just that sort of a man who would give 
a young fellow a chance, and within that minute he gave me 
his consent to get my one hundred pairs of overshoes from 
the freight office and place them on a table for a trial sale. 

This was the first time a shoe of any kind was ever offered 
for sale in this large and well established dry goods market, 
and I was thrilled to know that my plans were under way. 






TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 


139 


If these shoes sold well I would get a bigger order—that 
was the simple proposition. I didn’t care about that. My 
brain was raging desperately with an inspiration of great 
ambition. Thirty square feet of floor space in this store was 
being wasted and monopolized by a stock of farm and garden 
tools as high as the ceiling, which were set aside for the 
winter months. 

This is where I got my idea. If the manager would give 
the overshoes a trial on the ‘‘table,” at my expense, I could 
get a bigger offer if they sold all right. 

The shoes were on the table. I had twenty dollars left to 
live on until I earned more. I spent twelve dollars of this 
to have three thousand circular cards printed announcing a 
“God-send—overshoe protection for our townspeople.” I 
also had the weather predictions printed on that side of the 
card which happened to be all about “Hail! Rain! and 
Slush! Etc.,” with other wording, and on the.reverse side of 
the card my little verse was printed about the danger of 
diphtheria and pneumonia, and also for women and children 
to keep the Doctor away by getting those overshoes today. 

I paid four boys fifty cents each to help me distribute these 
cards around town in certain districts. 

The next day I prowled around in the slush near the store 
where I watched mothers and their children going in with 
wet feet and coming out with overshoes and packages. At 
10:30 A. M. the crowds were getting thicker, it seemed, so 
after gathering enough nerve I strolled into the store. There 
were three pairs of overshoes left. There stood the manager 
and his assistant. They were holding something back behind 
flushed and smiling faces, and I could feel that my face must 
have been crimson also. And then the fun began. 

Later I received a check for my samples and cash for my 
advertising expenditures with also a message to my firm. 
The next day a large sign announced the regret of running 
short of the demand and that more shoes were soon expected. 

At the present time the garden tools are in the basement, 
and anyone who happens to be in need of foot-protection can 








140 TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 


stop in at this store and be fitted with their choice of five 
thousand pairs of good shoes, because there is a permanent 
shoe section in that store today, and the manager is tickled 
whenever he sees a salesman coming in to sell him shoes that 
others come in to buy. Try twice, boys. It pays. 





TALES OP UNUSUAL SALES 


141 


BOOSTED A COMPETITOR AND WON 

By J. SCHENKMAN 

1 AM a paint salesman. The best sale I ever made was two 
years ago, in northern Illinois. 

A certain factory was under construction and the owner 
was in the market for a large quantity of inside Mill White. 
Six of us, competing salesmen, were asked to submit two- 
gallon samples for test purposes. 

Two weeks after the samples had been applied, I called on 
the owner of the plant. He informed me that all of the 
samples were under test and that he was as yet undecided 
which product to use. However, if he decided in favor of 
my paint, he would mail me the order, he said. 

By using some tact, I was able to get from Mr. F. the names 
of my five competitors. 

Among them I recognized my most formidable competitor, 
Blank’s Mill White. The other four I knew to be mediocre 
products. 

It suddenly struck me that if I could eliminate the poorer 
products, I should be increasing my chances of landing the 
order from one out of six, to one out of two. 

So I said, “Mr. F., you are in the drug business. I feel 
sure that you know your business thoroughly, or you wouldn’t 
be holding the position you hold today. On the other hand, I 
have been in the paint business for a good many years, and 
I know my business. To get your good will for the future, I 
am going to give you some valuable information, even though 
it may mean the loss of this order to me. 

“I claim it is impossible for you to decide by testing a 
paint for a few weeks, how that paint is going to stand up 
under the conditions of your plant after a few years. 

“I know that my paint will give you satisfaction. And of 
the other five brands you mentioned, I know that Blank’s 






TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 


142 


Mill White also will give good results, because I recognize 
their brand as being the best piece of goods you can get for 
the money —next to my own product. Therefore, if you 
should decide not to use mine, buy Blanks Mill White, and 
you’ll not go wrong.” 

Mr. F. thanked me warmly for the information. 

A few days later I received by mail his order for eighteen 
barrels of paint. 





TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 


143 


AN ORDER WAS JUST AROUND THE CORNER 

By W. R. Webb 

A FEW years ago I was connected with, a large paint 
manufacturing concern, selling their line of paints and 
paint specialties direct to the consumer, in the State of 
Oklahoma. 

Although I had been engaged in this work a comparatively 
short time, I had gotten a good “running start” and was 
quite successful from the outset. In fact I had been led to 
feel I was developing into one of the company’s “top- 
notchers. ’ ’ I knew my goods and sales points—forward and 
backward. I took my work seriously and with great en¬ 
thusiasm. I was determined to win in a big way. 

One fateful Friday, however, the gods who govern strug¬ 
gling salesmen seemed to have conspired to try my metal. I 
failed to “hit.” The following day, being a short one, as 
Saturday afternoons were given over to making out reports 
and mapping out the coming week’s work, I again failed to 
land an order. So it was with considerable reluctance that 
my weekly report was filled out showing, “Friday’s Sales: 
None.” “Saturday’s Sales: Ditto.” 

However, firmly resolved to make up for the loss the com¬ 
ing week, I cheerfully set about the plans of the week’s 
campaign to that end. 

Sunday afternoon found me boarding a train for the first 
town on my list, instead of the customary Monday morning 
departure, so that I might be on the ground and get an even 
start with the new week. I had set out for a new high 
record. 

Monday a. m., bright and early I was up and doing—doing 
my utmost to find and guide the halting hand to the dotted 
line. Came noon; still I had not scored. Instead of the 
leisurely lunch hour I usually allowed myself at a dining 







144 


TALES OP UNUSUAL SALES 


table, I gobbled up a scant lunch at the counter and hurried 
back to my prospecting. All that afternoon, and later than 
usual, I worked, until closing hour stopped me, striving with 
might and main to ward off the ghost of another blank day— 
but to no avail—it was upon me, and for the third time in 
succession! Worse by a day than my previous worst record. 

With that mechanical step and “fagged out” feeling which 
accompanies a fruitless day, I returned to the hotel, “sore at” 
the world in general—and that specific part of it in particular. 

But after a fairly satisfactory dinner and cigar I gradu¬ 
ally became more civil, and after carefully reviewing my 
efforts for the past three days and failing to find any error 
on my part traceable to the sudden slump, I realized this was 
no time for courting discouragement. There was as yet no 
cause for alarm. I recalled the Sales Manager’s oft-repeated, 
and, I thought, over-emphasized advice, “If they don’t break 
right for you for a day or so, don’t get discouraged; just 
keep plugging. The best of us have our off days.” 

Came Tuesday night; still, no order. I kept plugging. 

Wednesday I moved to another town, with renewed hopes. 
Still I met with the same luck. 

Thursday. Ye gods! seven days since my last order! I felt 
myself slipping. I saw visions of failure and abject humilia¬ 
tion. One thing at least I knew: something was wrong, radi¬ 
cally wrong—but what? Somewhere I had read that the 
time to work the hardest is when business is dullest; the time 
to fight your darndest, when your back is against the wall. 

Friday. With that courage born of desperation, with re¬ 
newed effort and vigor, I systematically made my rounds from 
store to store, office to office, up one side of the street and 
down the other, at each of which, wherein there was the 
slightest provocation—or possibility of an order—I would ex¬ 
ploit, extole, expound and argue the many merits of X-Brand 
paints with such sincerity, earnestness, persistency, profusion 
—and, I thought, eloquence—that I could not see how any 
intelligent buyer could afford to pass it up. Yet that’s exactly 
what he did—they all did. 






TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 


145 


While still playing a losing game and wondering where all 
would end, and how I could ever explain to the office, strange 
to say, I felt rather proud of myself that Friday night as I 
pondered over my momentous problems. All that week my 
sales talks had been improving, and today they were superb. 
I had outdone myself. I surprised myself—never dreamed 
that I could be such a forceful, verbose and eloquent speaker. 
Being by nature quiet, reserved and lacking the “gift of gab” 
which I then thought the successful salesman should have, I 
had entertained grave apprehensions as to whether I should 
ever be able to sufficiently unlimber my tongue. Now I knew 
I could. 

Despite the fact that they were not getting the business, 
my sales talks were “getting over” better than ever before. 
So I concluded that I had simply struck a streak of extra 
bad luck, punk territory and prospects. 

Until Saturday noon I managed to keep my courage up and 
kept plugging, though my ardor had been steadily cooling 
with each successive call. Saturday noon—the time for mak¬ 
ing the weekly sales report, and not one sale to report! I 
had met my Waterloo, I thought. As a salesman I was a 
joke. A picture of rejection personified, I sat down in the 
hotel writing room, trying to conjure up some satisfactory 
explanation or excuse to make the office. As I sat there pon¬ 
dering a happy inspiration presented itself. “I will explain 
nothing, and I won’t be a quitter as long as there’s a ghost 
of a chance to win,” I resolved. 

A few minutes later, for the first time in my experience I 
was out calling on prospects on Saturday afternoon. At three 
o’clock my “salesometer” still stood at zero. Emerging from 
a hardware store I had just made what I was about to 
conclude would be my last sales effort for the week, murmur¬ 
ing, “What’s the use?” I paused on the pavement and half¬ 
heartedly consulted my scant prospect list. Next on the list 
was the name of a gin owner—which class of prospects had 
seldom proved worth while—competitive prices having me 
beaten—and this man, I was told, was a mighty tough 
customer. 






146 


TALES OP UNUSUAL SALES 


A block ahead was the hotel. A block to the right was the 
ginner’s office. ‘Would I go straight ahead or to the left? 
I decided on the latter course, determined to make one last 
final effort, just to satisfy my conscience. 

I found Mr. Jones alone in his office, apparently very busy 
with his accounts. Lifting his gaze from the books before 
him just long enough to admit the correctness of my assump¬ 
tion that he was Mr. Jones, by a blunt “Yes,” he openly 
ignored my presence as I endeavored to formulate some 
proper line of attack. 

“Well, what can I do for you?” he suddenly snapped out 
impatiently, his eyes still on the books. 

“That, sir, depends. But first you might try a moderate 
application of common courtesy,” I said with an air of 
offended pride, not caring whether he kicked me out or not. 

That had the effect of disarming him, however, and he 
arose, accepted my proffered introduction and offered me a 
chair, though added immediately: 

“But I’m not in the market for any new machinery or 
equipment—nor anything else—Mr. Webb.” 

“Couldn’t do anything for you just now if you were, 
Mr. Jones. I’m from the X Manufacturing Co., Estimate 
and Supply Dept.,” I stated simply (this last being a new 
departure, but not an untruth). With your permission, I 
should like to undertake to show you a more economic method 
of handling your maintenance or up-keep problems, ’ ’ I blun¬ 
dered on, scarcely knowing or caring what I might say next. 

“I usually take care of such matter without any outside 
help, but if you have any ideas worth showing, I don’t mind 
looking at ’em—though I’m not going to buy anything, I can 
tell you that right now. So I don’t see how you can help 
me out any. You’ll just be losing your time.” 

“ I ’ll put my time against yours, ’ ’ I continued. 4 4 Take the 
item of stack painting, for instance. How often do you 
paint your stacks?” 

44 Every two or three years—usually every two years. Occa¬ 
sionally we pass ’em over to the third year. ’ ’ 





TALES OP UNUSUAL SALES 


147 


“ About what do you pay for your stack paints, if you 
care to say, Mr. Jones?” 

“So you want to sell me some paint, do you?” 

“Well, possibly. That depends upon my original proposi¬ 
tion. If I can’t show you a benefit and saving over and above 
your present periodical outlay, 1 won’t ask you to buy a 
gallon. ’ ’ 

“I don’t buy a gallon anyhow. I’m not going to buy any 
paint this year,” he said firmly. 

But to make a long story short, I ignored this last state¬ 
ment and proceeded with the interview. I spent the re¬ 
mainder of the afternoon with Mr. Jones and he in turn 
spent several hundred dollars with me—gave me the biggest 
paint order I had ever written up. 

During the course of our remarks I learned that he con¬ 
trolled not one but several cotton gins and compressors. So 
I raised my sights high. From time to time as we talked I 
made a few figures on a sheet of paper. From these I made 
up a rough estimate of painting his stacks and boiler fronts, 
specifying the use of a high grade stack paint with a 5-year 
guarantee, which would cut down the quantity at least 50% 
and make a like reduction in labor in applying it, since the 
paint he had been using had to be applied twice in five years. 

Seeing that he was interested, I carefully went over these 
figures with him, explaining them, then showed him samples 
and literature, quoted him in large quantities, all with an 
air of “take it or leave it, I don’t care?” But I didn’t stop 
at stack paint; he decided to take five barrels of other kinds 
as well. 

So at the eleventh hour I managed to grab success from the 
very jaws of failure. Instead of the blank week which had 
begun to seem inevitable, that night I made out the biggest 
weekly sales report I had sent in up to that time. 

The next day, Sunday, I reviewed and analyzed the past 
week’s experiences—particularly the one splendid sale—and 
arrived at the following conclusions, which not only enabled 






148 


TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 


me to sell more paint but have been worth real money to me 
in the sale of other lines since. 

1. Keep plugging always. 

2. Never be discouraged. If you have a run of “hard 
luck” and they just won’t “jar loose,” smile and keep 
plugging. 

3. Keep your feet hot and your head cool. 

4. Don’t get over-anxious and try to make sales through 
sheer force of spellbinding oratory. 

5. Present your facts, as clearly and logically as possible, 
but use about 80% judgment and 20% talk. Give the cus¬ 
tomer a chance to buy—and as much as he can reasonably 
need. 

I have since made larger and more difficult sales, though I 
have always considered the foregoing my best, because it 
taught me more than any other, and perhaps marked the 
turning point between my failure or success in the selling 
field. 





TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 


149 


HANDLING A DODGING DEALER 

By Clarence E. Scott 

D URING the winter of 1919 I was working in the Kansas 
City territory for a well-known pickle company. I 
had a customer in this territory who was always insist¬ 
ing that another line of pickles which was a close competitor 
of ours was as good as my product. His opinion was founded 
upon the use he had made of the competitor’s goods and his 
lack of knowledge of my product. 

One day I stepped into his store, and while he was finishing 
waiting on a customer I saw a keg of pickles that my com¬ 
petitor had sold him. His first words to me when he was 
through waiting upon the customer were: “Well, Scott, I 
called up your house and ordered some pickles. ’ ’ This state- * 
ment I knew to be false. He wanted me to assume that the 
pickles I had seen were ordered from my house. 

I thanked him for the phone call and stepping over to the 
keg took one of the pickles and sampled it. After doing so 
I turned to my sample case, took out a slip and began writing. 
He observed my action and asked what I was doing. I re¬ 
plied : ‘ ‘ Those pickles are not nearly up to our standard. I 
am making out a pick-up slip with instructions for our truck 
driver to pick up that keg the next time he is in this part of 
town, and I would like to ask you please not to let any more 
of the pickles in that keg go out to your trade.” 

He was very much surprised at my action, and fully realiz¬ 
ing that he would be caught in his attempt to deceive me 
with regard to the pickles he had purchased from my com¬ 
petitor, he suggested that the pickles were good enough even 
though they were slightly below our standard and that he 
could dispose of them at a fair profit. He also said he would 
be glad to give me an order for another keg of our higher 
standard pickles. 

I took his order for a keg, thanked him, and then by calling 
attention to the other varieties in our line secured his order 
for some additional articles. 







150 


TALES OP UNUSUAL SALES 


LEAVING THE BUYER NO OTHER OPTION 

By L. C. Cron 

1 WAS with a company that made the so-called ‘ ‘ blind 
gasoline filling station pump,” at the time a few of the 
larger gasoline companies were using or trying out the 
visible gas pump. We received an inquiry from one of 

the newer oil companies in the town of-, wanting us to 

quote prices on a visible outfit, which of course we could 
not do. 

I was doing sales promotion work at the time so the sales 
manager said: “See what you can do for them,” and it 
looked as if it would be “not a thing.” Upon arriving at 
the equipment buyer’s office, I was informed by his majesty 
who, by the way, was a very human buyer, that the public 
demanded visible pumps in this day and age. 

All of my sales talk did not seem to change him one bit. 
All he would say was “they want to see that they get full 
measure. ’ ’ I could see my line of talk was merely a waste of 
time for both of us, and decided the only way to change his 
decision was to prove his judgment was wrong. But to do it 
in such a way as not to offend him was the big question. His 
opinion had to be changed in the next two weeks as they were 
about ready to open their first filling station and I could not 
put it off. So I left, after making an appointment with him 
for the next morning which I gained by stating I would have 
proof for him. His letter did not state whether he wanted 
one or ten outfits, and I was going to go after the order hard, 
if only for one. 

Back at the hotel, I wondered if my time wasn’t being 
wasted, but after several schemes floated through my mind as 
to how to prove my pumps were best, one came and stuck, 
but it was more or less a gamble with fate. 

The first thing I did the next morning was to locate the 
most prominent filling station which had both the blind and 






TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 


151 


visible pumps in use. I kept my appointment on time and 
asked him if he would put one hour of his time against my 
chances of getting the order, which he readily agreed to do, 
if I could prove that people did not demand the visible pump. 
So we called on this filling station I had picked out and I 
asked the equipment buyer to count the cars that stopped at 
each of the blind and visible pumps, and also to check the 
time on the two for discharging five gallons of gas. 

In a little over an hour only one out of five cars stopped 
at the visible pump. The blind pump beat the other for speed 
by a good margin. On the way back in his car, the first thing 
he said was, and he spoke first, “Can you ship twenty-five 
outfits (about $15,000) so they will get here by the first?” 
You know what I said. 





152 


TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 


A REAL ACHIEVEMENT 

By Elizabeth Buck 

1 WAS with a real estate firm in a western city selling 
rooming houses and other small business chances. Now 
and then I found a customer who was in the market for 
a home or for farm land. One such customer was a woman 
whose husband had recently died, leaving a substantial 
amount of life insurance. This money was safely deposited 
in a bank and the woman desired to invest part of it in a 
home. It became my privilege and duty to find the right 
home for her. 

Day after day I traveled with the lady through the various 
subdivisions of the city. Every house which we had listed I 
displayed for her inspection. There was something wrong 
with each—too large, too small, faulty architecture, poor loca¬ 
tion, too high priced, might be a losing investment—and much 
more of the same kind of hedging. I showed vacant home- 
sites. She thought the building of a house was risky. Look¬ 
ing at house plans did not give her a clear idea of what the 
house would look like. And contractors were seldom reliable. 
The woman really wanted to buj^ a home but she was un¬ 
accustomed to handling money beyond petty amounts. At 
the thought of investing a few thousand dollars, her mind 
wavered. She lacked the power of decision, yet she knew 
that she wanted a house. 

One morning, when I was begin n ing to grow weary on the 
trail, my customer surprised me by expressing enthusiastic 
admiration for a bungalow I took her to see. It was charming 
—just what she wanted—but—she did not like the location— 
would not live in that district—and the lot was too small. 
Now, if that house were only on the vacant lot I had showed 
her in Fairview Park. 

With an inspiration born of a strong desire to end the 





TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 


153 


chase, I asked: “Would you buy that Fairview Park lot if 
you could have a duplicate of this bungalow erected upon it ? ’ ’ 

“Yes, I would,” she replied decisively. 

“Then,” said I, “the quest is ended. I will copy the plans 
of this house for you. ’ ’ 

When she saw that I really meant what I said, that lady 
invented a dozen or more pretexts for reversing her decision, 
but from this point I handled the case with a firm hand. 
Straightway I procured a spring-winding steel tape measure. 
Equipped with this tape measure, pencil and tablet, I took all 
necessary measurements and made a hasty sketch of the floor 
plans, front and side elevations of the house, etc. Later I 
perfected the plans to a scale and wrote an amateurish de¬ 
scription of the building materials and workmanship. The 
result of my effort would, doubtless, have been amusing to a 
professional architect. I could not, for instance, name the 
brand of plaster on the wall nor could I specify the grade of 
flooring used. The angles of the roof I gauged by sight. But 
I could, and did, indicate the plumbing fixtures, electric wir¬ 
ing and furnace flues, and my design was geometrically 
accurate. 

But drafting the plans did not end my connection with 
them. My customer lacked initiative. To me fell the task of 
submitting those plans to contractors for estimates. I had 
to make all positive decisions, while my lady held the veto 
power and injected many negative decisions which obstructed 
the work. She could never decide definitely in favor of any¬ 
thing, but she could decide against more things than anybody 
I had ever met. My task was a tedious one. However, I 
stayed with it until I had my customer securely established 
in her new home. In the end she was pleased, for she had a 
house which suited her, built on a lot which suited her, and 
the total cost was slightly less than the price asked for the 
other property. From a strictly ethical point of view, copy¬ 
ing an architectural design might appear to be a reprehensible 
procedure, but the exigencies of the case seemed to justify 
mv course. 

t/ 

This transaction consumed too much of my time for me to 





154 TALES OP UNUSUAL SALES 


record it as a profitable one. Nevertheless I feel especially 
proud of it, for it required a stroke of genius, combined with 
patient persistence, to bring that sale to a successful climax. 
As every salesman knows, it is overcoming obstacles which 
puts zest into selling. 





TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 


155 


GOLDEN RULE LEADS TO SALE 

By C. Kingsley Rowland 

I S the largest sale always the best sale? Is there more 
satisfaction in coming in with a full order book or to 
come in with one or two that took all of your ingenuity 
to get a signature? 

Forty years ago, we had a customer, then a big buyer. For 
twenty years we sold him and then during a time of de¬ 
pression he couldn’t meet his payments, so naturally a judg¬ 
ment. Then for another twenty years no business, also purely 
natural. 

When I took the territory I wasn’t warned against who to 
and who not to call on, but looked up ratings and started off. 

There is an old man, paralyzed down one side, and a dear 
old lady so feeble she could hardly walk, who tend store. Sell 
much roofing? “Sure, lots of it.” Got plenty? “Sure and 

always will have.” What’s the matter with G-? 

“They’re no good and I wouldn’t give them an order if they 
were the last house in the world.” The dear old lady sat 
aghast at her husband’s rudeness, so what could I do but sit 
down and chat with her? And we chatted and chatted and 
I missed a train. 

Next week I went back again. No, indeed, there was no 
business, no selling mentioned and under my arm I had a 
package of string beans fresh from my own garden. Each 
week during the summer I carried them something they could 
not buy, fresh vegetables. She appreciated it and so did the 
old man. Still no questions about business. In our talks the 
old lady let fall how she had to spend two dollars for an auto 
ride. Oh! boy, now I knew that order was mine and almost 
every day there sat with me on the front seat of my Lizzie a 
little old gray-haired lady who enjoyed herself immensely. 

It may seem like a bribe. It may not have been business 
etiquette BUT the biggest order in my book is for $70.35 








156 


TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 


signed W. C. S. Co., the front of it is one for $972.50, and at 
its back one for $625.35, but it’s far larger in amount than 
either. It is my best sale—my biggest sale. 

Just the other day I wrote the old couple, as I am no longer 
in that territory, just to thank them for enough orders almost 
to pay for my winter’s supply of coal. 

Does courtesy pay? Does the little every day kindness help 
us salesmen ? I dare a competitor to get this business. Price 
is nothing to them for friendship is there and friendship due 
to courtesy pays the biggest of big dividends. There will 
never be another judgment as checks are sent to me and the 
bills are discounted. Don’t think this is all glory but here’s 
another where courtesy came across big. 

I was selling a specialty, a high-priced book-keeping system 
and everything was dead wrong—hadn’t had a sale for days 
and nearly discouraged when I hit the most unlikely store for 
a sale that ever had a front door and front window. 

The store was dim, the man and woman slovenly. But as 
soon as I saw the woman, off came my hat. The man looked 
at me rather strangely and the woman flushed. When I 
started talking their attention was instant. Their thoughts 
were on the machine. Their eyes were on a salesman who 
talked before them with bared head. When the talk was over 
I took out my order-book and started to write. The man 
asked how much, the woman said that it would help her in 
her work. 

That’s all except the salesman who showed them the ma¬ 
chine a year ago, or one nearly like it owned the store, spat 
tobacco-juice on the floor, swore a few times, considered this 
pair as animals and was kicked out. Courtesy pays big divi¬ 
dends in selling. Try it. 






TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 


157 


EDUCATING THE BUYER TO GET THE ORDER 

By B. E. Botting 

A HARDWARE firm I had been calling on would never 
consider any of the four kinds of roofing I was han¬ 
dling because they could buy for less money. It oc¬ 
curred to me that standard grades were put out on two 
qualities of felt, although I could not make the hardware con¬ 
cern understand Finally I secured the two felt baizes. When 
I showed the hardware company these two samples and 
pointed out the difference, which they could easily see, they 
handed me another argument to the effect that the consumer 
didn’t know or care about the make-up, nor would the con¬ 
sumer believe the difference in price is due to the quality of 
felt. 

I had expected something about the consumer “not know¬ 
ing or caring” and was prepared for it. I had a sample of 
a Mica Flake that was supposed to stay for a long time with¬ 
out any painting or attention. Most roofings of that kind are 
supposed to be gone over every three years. This was the 
most expensive roofing I had, but my last chance lay in this ex¬ 
pensive stuff when they gave me the stall that their cus¬ 
tomers wanted something cheap. 

I asked the buyer what was the price of the best roofing 
paint he sold. He told me $2.00, and that it would last for 
five years under guarantee because it goes on about ten times 
as thick as ordinary paint with one stroke of the brush. He 
also informed me that it would take from one to one and a 
quarter gallons to the square. 

It was then I told him that he had given me the impression 
that his trade wanted something cheap—and that I had it. 
He came back at me and said he understood that my lines 
were highest in price. So I got out my pencil and did some 
figuring. I used his own figures of six dollars to keep a roof 
per square 15 years to say nothing of the labor cost. Then I 








158 


TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 


told him he could sell my Mica Hoofing for $5 per square, on 
which he could make a fair margin of profit, as well as give 
his customers something that would give the service with 
many advantages. I told him the Mica roof would not only 
stand 15 years but that Mica is practically fireproof, that it 
will stand 3,000 degrees heat and is also a non-conductor of 
electricity. 

I got his order because the figures were convincing. After 
signing the dotted line he told me that very few salesmen gave 
him a selling idea as I had done, and as he handled hundreds 
of articles and was asked hundreds of questions he felt in 
future he would patronize those salesmen who gave him sell¬ 
ing information. Of course I went into many minor details 
not necessary to repeat, but the point is I gave him some¬ 
thing in the way of educational service. 







TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 


159 


FORCING AN OPPORTUNITY 

By H. W. Ashton 

W HILE selling for a Screw Mfg. Co. I liad one manu¬ 
facturing plant from 'whom I found it simply im¬ 
possible to even get an inquiry, to say nothing of an 
order. I had called many times, was always treated with 
great consideration, but always told that they had their 
regular sources of supply and would not think of making any 
change. 

On every trip, I made a call and always did my best to at 
least attract interest, but it seemed impossible to even get that. 
I told the buyer one day that I did not expect to give up, 
and that maybe something might turn up that would give me 
a chance, even if it was in a very small way. In a laughing 
way the buyer said, “If we get in a hole sometime, it may 
be that you could dig us out. ’ ’ I replied by telling him, ‘ 4 If 
it could be done, we would do it, and not to forget that we 
will expect you to make good your word. ’ ’ 

This firm manufactured machines, and in the machines 
were many screws that were made to order from specifications, 
so one day we received a telegram stating that they had a 
contract for some machinery that was worth many thousands 
of dollars, and that if it was not gotten out on specified time, 
they would be liable to a heavy fine, and that they had run 
short of only a very few screws, yet enough to make it so 
that they could .not ship on the stated time, and asking me 
what we could do. 

They had telegraphed to all the screw manufacturers in the 
country with this inquiry, but the general run of replies were 
that it would take a certain amount of time, but none replied 
with the positive strong assurance that I did, for I was 
desperate to make a connection with this firm. We replied, 
“We can furnish same in 72 hrs .” and received a reply 
asking if we had made any mistake as the time appeared to 





160 


TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 


be too short in comparison to the offers of the other firms, 
but that they hoped it was correct as it would save them many 
hundreds of dollars and they were willing to stand any 
expense to get the screws. I replied, “I stated that if you 
could be dug out of a hole, we could do it and we can supply 
your needs in the stated time. We are not going to charge 
for the screws, but will ask only for the expense of getting 
them made and delivered in time.” To this I received word 
to “Go ahead.” 

Our plant was in the East and their plant was in the 
Middle West, and the stock required to make these screws we 
did not have, but would have to order, so instead of going at 
things in the usual way, I at once sent a man that I selected 
to the mill which was in another state. He got just enough 
of the stock needed and brought it back with him, and did 
not delay or allow anything to hold him up. In the mean¬ 
time, I had the machines set up to turn these screws out, and 
as soon as he returned, the material was in the course of 
manufacture. In about one hour it was ready, and I dis¬ 
patched this same man on the next train for the destination 
of the manufacturer, he arriving in just 71 hrs. from the time 
we got the orders to go ahead. 

The amount of screws needed was very small, but just 
enough to hold up some very large machinery, on which a 
very heavy fine would have been due if not delivered on con¬ 
tract time. The actual value of the screws would not amount 
to one dollar in the regular course of business, but meant 
many hundreds of dollars if not furnished. I knew that the 
other manufacturers would not likely try so desperately to 
fill so trifling an order, so I just got the bull by the horns 
and got busy. 

I guess you know the result of thisit made a connection 
that was solid, and that will be hard for others to break, and 
now I am as solid with this firm as I was the other way before. 

I had used all the salesmanship I had, I had stuck to this 
manufacturer through thick and thin, then I watched my 
chance for an opening, and when it came, I took full advan¬ 
tage of it and won. 





TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 


161 


SOLD STOCK TO BANK PRESIDENT 

By W. F. Davis 

1 WAS the only stock salesman the local Savings and Loan 
Company had in the first six months of their existence 
for the simple reason that they were not able to pay a 
salary for the sale of their stock, only commissions on sales 
actually made. Of course, I had unlimited territory, but also 
had much competition from stock salesmen handling other 
lines. Said competition was the spur that pushed me on. I 
reasoned that if any one could sell the stock I handled, I was 
the man. With that bit of egotism in my mind always, I 
rarely missed a sale. 

My first intention on undertaking the sale of the stock I 
handled was to place a certain amount with every business 
man in town. I met with great success in placing some with 
practically all of the merchants. I then notified my boss that 
I considered a bank teller, cashier, or president, as a business 
man in the class I had made up my mind to sell, and my in¬ 
tentions were to sell them next. He seemed to think me crazy 
for he stated that to sell a bank president some capital stock 
in our company was impossible. Taking it altogether, he was 
not in favor of my tackling that line of business men. 

But I had a mind of my own, and the same morning that 
the boss cautioned me as to what a foolish idea I had, I 
marched into the largest bank of the city and asked the teller 
if the president was in. He nodded in the affirmative, and 
soon I was ushered into the office of the executive. He greeted 
me with a gruff, “Good morning, sir,” to which I replied in 
my most cheerful manner. 

“Mr. Jones, I am representing the - County Savings 

and Loan Company in the sale of its capital stock, and have 
called on you to interest you and to have you become one of 
our stockholders.” 





162 


TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 


Ye Gods! Whatever power was holding that gentleman in 
his chair suddenly gave way as if a spring had been touched. 
Up he jumped—pulled his hair—called me names—walked to 
the door—opened it—and told me to get out of there. I walked 
to the door with thoughts flashing through me whether to 
tell him what was uppermost in my mind or not. Finally as 
I was nearly to the door, I turned and said, 

“Well, Mr. Jones, you evidently did not sleep any too well 
last night. I will have to call another day, hoping to find you 
in a better humor.’’ 

I left his establishment rather crestfallen, I must admit, 
and went over to my office and reported my experience to my 
boss. He sure had a good laugh at my expense, and said that 
it served me right; that I would have to live and learn, if I 
would not listen to older heads. That made me more deter¬ 
mined than ever to do what I had planned. A week passed 
by, during which time all I thought of was selling Mr. Jones. 
Finally I struck the following plan and put it into execution. 

I made out a Stock Certificate for ten shares of capital 
stock and in bold handwriting wrote the real name of Mr. 
Smith on it, in its proper place to denote ownership. Also I 
made out a Certificate of Deposit for one thousand dollars the 
very same way. With these two so prepared I was again 
ready to talk to Mr. Jones. 

As the teller saw me enter, he began to smile, and asked 
me if I wanted to see the president. He seemed more than 
surprised when I told him that I did. On entering this time 
I did not even get a gruff ‘ ‘ Good morning, ” so I opened fire 
myself. 

I began talking of how business showed signs of picking 
up in our district, of how new houses were being built, and 
improvements were being made on those already standing. 
I then asked him if he realized the prime factor that was re¬ 
sponsible for the new houses and improvements, and slowly 
but strongly made it to bear out that it was the achievements 
of my company alone. That not arousing a great outburst 
of indignation, I put out the other foot. I told him that I 
had him picked as a man interested in the welfare of his 




TALES OP UNUSUAL SALES 


163 


community, and with that in mind, had taken the liberty of 
making him a stockholder in our company. While saying this 
I drew the stock certificate out of my pocket and handed it 
to him. 

While he was reading it over I kept on talking all of the 
time. I told him that no doubt our dividends would not pay 
him as much in the next two years as would the dividends 
of his own company, but I convinced him that by getting be¬ 
hind our company he was putting money in his bank in¬ 
directly, for when a man borrows money to build, he is likely 
to make that location his home for some time to come. As 
this is a mining district, I struck the vital point with that 
statement. After asking several questions, he paid me Eleven 
Hundred Dollars for the stock, and One Thousand Dollars for 
the Certificate of Deposit; nor did he stop at that. Through 
his influence I landed the three men in his employ in the 
bank. I left the bank which I was told I could not sell with 
over Twenty-eight Hundred Dollars for my company. 





164 


TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 


SOLD THREE AT ONCE 

By J. D. Van Etten 

1 FEEL my “best” sale was the one I made in St. Louis 
recently, where I had the most thrills, and had to use my 
very best diplomacy and all the experience I had, to gain 
the verdict. 

I was selling stock in a new mechanical device for dry goods 
stores, etc., and was calling at one of the very largest and 
best wholesale dry goods houses in the U. S. I had called 
upon the buyer in one department, and shown my sample to 
him. He was greatly interested in it, but said, “No stock 
for me. I have been bit too many times on things that looked 

just as good as this.” I said, “Well, Mr.-, that is 

too bad, as now you pass up the very best thing you ever 
had a chance to get in on, and which would undoubtedly 
make ten times all your former losses.” He said, “Nothing 
doing,” and to get rid of me, told me to go over to another 

office and show my machine to Mr.-as he had plenty 

of money, so I went in to see Mr.-, whom I found to 

be an extremely bright, sharp, up-to-the-minute gentleman. 
His associate, another bright young fellow 7 , w r as also in, hence 
I had to deal with double wits. 

I well knew I was up against a tough proposition, as the 
least break on my part would cause my downfall, and it 
would be “good day” for me. Well, I had just about gotten 
these two greatly interested, when in comes the gentleman 
that steered me away from him, over to where I now was. 
Great horrors—here were now three to one, when “fifty- 
fifty” was a great plenty. Any salesman of experience well 
knows he may be able to cope with one, but when it comes to 
two, the task is more than doubled, and when it comes to 
three to one, is almost unsurmountable. 












TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 


165 


1 knew I was up against one of the toughest propositions 
of my entire career as salesman, and that it was up to me to 
display my very best wares so I tightened up my belt of sales¬ 
manship another notch, and sailed in to whip the three of 
them, in an argumentative way. 

About the first word my No. 1 man (now No. 3) said, after 
coming in, was, “Well, what do you think of it, boys?” They 
said, “We think it about the best thing we ever saw,” and 
he agreed with them, so I lit in to try and get the three of 
them as nearly hypnotized upon the proposition as possible, 
and paused a second for effect, when my No. 1 man said, 
“Well, let’s all take a little of this stock.” Quick to take my 
cue, and watching carefully for the least opening to close, I 
said to Mr. No. 1, “Well, how much do you want,” and he 
replied, ‘ ‘ Oh, about half as much as either of these gentlemen 
take.” At this critical moment there came a telephone call 
for Mr. No. 1, which took him away, so I said to myself, 
“Good-by for him,” and to No. 2, “Well, how much stock 
do you want,” and he replied, “It might be well to think 
this proposition over a couple of days or so,” I disinterestedly 
said, “All right, if you want to lose the opportunity of getting 
in on this issue, but remember we are dosing the issue. ’ ’ He 
told me to put him down for fifty shares. I soon had his 
application and check. I then asked No. 3 how many he 
wanted and he said, ‘ ‘ Oh, twenty-five shares. ’ ’ I soon had his 
application and check. I then extended my hand to each of 
them and congratulated them in getting in on this valuable 
issue. 

I bade them good day, and went in quest of my man No. 1, 
and found him where I first met him. His first words were, 

“Well, how much did they take?” I told him Mr. - 

took fifty shares and Mr.-twenty-five shares. He 

said, “The dickens they did,” and as they were all good 
Mends I showed him their signed applications and cheeks, 
and asked him how many he wanted. He said, “Well, put me 
down for fifty shares, too.” Well, if I was not amazed; went 
gunning for one, and got three, and soon had his application 
and check. 









166 TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 


I went back to the office with my three applications, feeling 
it had not been a bad afternoon’s work, as I had never met 
either of the three gentlemen before, and had three applica¬ 
tions where I only hoped for one, and incidentally earned a 
couple of hundred dollars for myself. 





TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 


167 


WORKING AGAINST THE WIFE’S WISHES 

By S. M. Huffman 

I N my “wanderings” selling investments I called on Mr. 
Blank at his home and met with a skeptical and opposing 
wife. Those people lost money in an oil deal and were 
afraid of anything that sounded like an investment. How¬ 
ever, I happened to be representing one of the best firms and 
had about the best proposition to offer that I have ever seen. 
I am thoroughly sold on my company’s idea and being so I 
could talk it to any prospect with the utmost fervor and force. 
I did not have much trouble in convincing Mr. Blank that I 
had the opportunity of his life and he wanted some of it, and 
did take some of it before I left his house. But his wife— 
Oh, my! It was amusing, or would have been had she not 
been so serious. She fought me from start to finish, declaring 
she would not sign the contract. "When I told her she did not 
have to sign it she snapped at me, “I thought you said nr^ 
name must be on it?” I very calmly informed her that her 
name must be on the contract but only as a precaution in case 
of the death of her husband, the dividends would continue 
to come to her without necessity of court procedure. 

In the “qualification” talk given us by the company there 
is an inducement held out to prospects for future investments 
in that they are promised an independent income by repeated 
investments with this company. When I told them that in a 
year’s time I would call on them again with another offer 
as good as the one I now had, she very promptly informed me, 
and she meant it, too, that if I ever came back she would take 
the broom to me. She also told me that I must have her hus- 
hand hypnotized as never before in all the years of their mar¬ 
ried life had he ever done anything which she had advised 
against. After I had gone, so Mr. Blank afterwards told me, 
she was very angry with him. She later found that they had 
made a most excellent investment and is now more than 








TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 


168 


pleased with it and when I do go back to them for a repeat 
I will not be received with the broom, but w r ith any money 
that they may have for a future investment. 

Mr. Blank told me that she 4 ‘did not like the positive w T ay 
I talked about the investment and the fact that she could not 
Hustrate me.” Being so well sold on the idea myself, I could 
not feel otherwise than that 1 must sell everyone that I talked 
to, although I did not make sales to every one to whom I 
presented the opportunity. I consider the above one of my 
best sales. 





TALES OP UNUSUAL SALES 


169 


“MORE OR LESS” BROUGHT HOME THE 

BACON 

By Paul Jarvis 

D URING an extreme business depression, a salesman, 
seeking a companion in misery, asked of a fellow- 
drummer : 

‘ ‘ How is business ? ’ ’ 

“Fine,” replied the latter. 

Surprised, the inquirer asked: 

“When did you make your last sale?” 

“Six months ago.” 

“Then where do you get that ‘fine’ stuff—what is your 
line?” 

‘ 1 1 sell suspension bridges. ’ ’ 

That reminds me of my first and largest transaction as a 
cub bond salesman. The Lightning struck six weeks after my 
joining a New York Government Bond house and what I did 
not know and could not tell about securities generally was an 
earful for a Coliseum audience. My firm had told me, after a 
couple of weeks’ coaching, that the best way to find out how 
little I knew was in the university of hard-knocks, and ordered 
me to hit the long trail from Cleveland to the Twin Cities. 

In due course I was reaching for my hat at every corner in 
the “Windy City” and blew into a large National Bank. It 
was close to the time for declaring personal property for 
taxation. The saying that there is nothing certain but death 
and taxes is subject to modification regarding the latter, as 
the artful dodger can often side-step the tax-collector. Back 
in 1903 Government bonds need not be declared and cash-in- 
bank could therefore be reduced by a purchase. The Cashier 
of the Bank mentioned asked if we could supply about $660,- 
000 U. S. “Twos.” I assured him that the sky was the limit, 




170 


TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 


and wired New York for terms which were soon received, 
coupled with the information that their government bond 
expert was leaving on the fast train to render me any neces¬ 
sary assistance. His arrival in advance of the closing of the 
transaction would give the moral credit, at least, to the big 
bear instead of the cub. The Cashier had asked me to ’phone 
him about 4 P. M. as he had to confer with the Trustees of 
the Estate whose heavy bank balance was involved. It was 
then three o’clock. I went to my hotel and spent a year 
waiting for the minute hand to complete its circle. At three 
minutes of four, I took down the receiver and had the cash¬ 
ier’s ear at the other end of the wire: 

“"We are holding $660,000 U. S. ‘Twos’ for you,” I said, 
and listened with bated breath for his reply. 

“We shall be unable to decide on the exact amount ’til to¬ 
morrow and may want to shop around a little, ’ ’ was his come¬ 
back. 

I now knew I had a heart, but it had slipped its moorings. 
The big bear is heading this way at sixty miles an hour— 
flashed through my mind and with it an inspiration: 

“This is a large order, and the demand at this time is 
heavy. Supposing we make it $660,000 more or less!” 

“All right, you can confirm on that basis.” 

“Thank you.” 

He may have said something additional, but the receiver 
hit the hook so fast it did not get across. My message to New 
York crossed the Twentieth Century I don’t know where, but 
when the Mogul thundered into the station the next morning, 
I was at the train-side and after greeting the Government 
Bond Expert I remarked as casually as was possible under 
the circumstances: 

‘ ‘ By the way, I closed that deal yesterday afternoon. ’ ’ 

Did he bristle-up and scowl at me? He did not. Being a 
big bear, he just hugged his cub. 




TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 


171 


MY FIFTY-DOLLAR THOUGHT 


By L. F. Bogan 


I T was the last one of the thirty-one scorchers that made up 
that Louisiana August—and the sizzlingest one of them 
all. I mopped my brow and looked again at the big 
clock. Two-thirty—and still the president was deep in a con¬ 
ference which had lasted since noon. I had an hour and a 
half in which to secure a few minutes of his time before the 
bank closed, and with it my opportunity of closing a sale 
which would put me at the head of the list for August, and 
bring me a cash prize of fifty dollars. 

Early in the summer Mr. Smith had promised me his order 
for check covers if I would come back in August. It was an 
order well worth coming after, and now all I needed was to 
secure his attention long enough to present the order for his 
signature and the order would be mine—and also the $50.00 
prize. 

But how to secure even five minutes of that busy man’s 
time? As I watched I felt sorry for him. He was a stout 
man, and naturally felt the heat greatly. He was mopping 
great drops of perspiration from his face and bald head, and 
had tucked a handkerchief under his wilted collar. I saw 
him glance nervously at a pile of mail which evidently needed 
attention and by the harassed look on his face I knew he was 
rushed and tired. 

From snatches of conversation that reached me, I gathered 
that the conference was about to close. I was hot and thirsty 
and thought longingly of the drug store across the street but 
I feared to give up my place among the others who were also 
trying to see Mr. Smith. 

Then—my fifty dollar thought! 

If I was thirsty, then so, probably, was Mr. Smith. But he 
had no time for trips to the drug store. 





172 


TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 


In less time than it takes to tell it I was across the street 
and had persuaded the boy at the fountain to surrender his 
position to me for a few minutes. 

Selecting the largest glass I saw, I harkened back to the 
days when the scoop and siphon were implements of my 
trade—lots of ice, a combination of fresh orange and lemon 
juice, a dash of syrup, and refreshing carbonated water. 

Brimming glass in hand I waited until I saw across the 
street the men in l\Ir. Smith’s office rise. Then across I went, 
and when Mr. Smith had shaken the last hand and turned 
back to his desk I was there, glass in hand. 

“ Hello, Mr. Smith! Brought you something to cool you 
off a bit,” and I offered him the brimming tinkling glass. 
Did he hesitate? Who would have, with the mercury 102° 
in the shade? 

While he enjoyed his drink I laid before him the order 
which he had agreed to sign. 

“I know you’re rushed, Mr. Smith, but you can glance over 
that as you drink, and I’d be mighty glad to have your sig¬ 
nature before I leave.” 

I got it all right, and a word of real thanks for my thought¬ 
fulness, and—incidentally—a few days later a letter of thanks, 
and a check for $50.00 from my company. 





TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 


173 


REFUSED TO BE TURNED DOWN 

By R. J. Pickett 

A T the time of the story I was in the typewriter business, 
and was working in a territory that was filled with my 
competitor’s machines. My company controlled a few 
large concerns that netted me steady orders, and I secured 
some orders for single machines, through hard effort, but my 
work was still undone, or rather, not begun, because I had 
done nothing to break into that impregnable defense of my 
competitor. I had done nothing to demoralize him. He was 
ambling suavely along, gathering in orders, almost without 
effort, accumulating a handsome business each month—the 
only requisite being that he keep well enough to walk, and 
occasionally board a car, so that he could answer his telephone 
calls wdth reasonable promptness. 

This was fine for the competitor, but not for me. I was 
getting sick of holding my end up on the evening’s entertain¬ 
ment, on a much smaller earning than his. He was a nice, 
clever fellow, but he was gradually “getting my goat.” 

One day I suddenly made up my mind that I would take 
his strongest customer away from him. 

Now, here is where the fun begins: 

I had made several calls on this concern previously, but 
merely in a sense of “rounding out” my canvass; but, now 
that my mind was set to accomplish an idea, I began to plan 
the best and surest approach on this concern. 

I made my plan. I called, and, as usual, I failed to secure 
the interview, being stopped by the head stenographer. I 
was enthused, and therefore, would not be deterred. This 
idea was in my head. I called back a week later, and as luck 
would have it, the head stenographer was away from her desk. 
I filed my route among the crowded and ill-assorted desks, in 
the rather poorly arranged office, to the “high mogul,” the 







174 


TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 


great Mr. Ad Valorem, who hired and fired from a half dozen 
to so many stenographers each week. 

I had my story all ready. I had recited it before the mirror 
several times, and before he could stop me I greeted him with a 
smile, and began: “Mr. Ad Valorem, would you welcome a 
device in your coffee roasting department that would cut the 
costs of roasting your coffee, and roast it better than your 
present method ? I know you would, because you are a good 
business man and are keenly alive to the importance of costs 
in modern business. Now, Mr. Ad Valorem, when you have 
decided to save money in this department, why not save it 
in all departments ? Why not save it in your office ? ’ ’ 

Well, I was suddenly stopped. Mr. Ad Valorem tempo¬ 
rarily raised his face from the dictaphone (which, by the way, 
was his “steady”), and blurted out, “Who are you with?” 
I smilingly replied, “Mr. A. V., I am with the Blank Type¬ 
writer Company.” “There is absolutely nothing doing.” 
(Rather vehemently.) 

Well, I had expected this, and I was ready; so I stood, and 
benignly smiled at Mr. A. V. for a full minute, and he finally 
raised his face from his pet, and—smiled. 

“Ye Gods! I have a chance!” was my silent reflection. I 
smiled in return, and walked out. Then my reflection was, 
“I have won.” 

That afternoon I told my manager I would sell this concern 
ten typewriters (which was a big order in those days), but 
that I could not possibly make the sale without his coopera¬ 
tion, and the cooperation of the employment department, be¬ 
cause the prospect had vowed he would never buy another 
Blank typewriter. His decision was based on the idea that 
we had had our chance and had failed. I told the manager 
that if we made the sale we would break our competitor’s 
back. If we did not make it we would be a self-appointed 
bunch of quitters. 

The manager was an awfully good fellow, and promised he 
would “go around” the first opportunity he had to get away 
from his desk. Day after day I was after him, and finally 





TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 


175 


he made the journey. Well—“Mirabale dictu!”—the two 
personalities blended—the very thing I had counted upon. 
He expected to meet a crab, and after he had introduced him¬ 
self and chatted a few minutes it was very hard for him to 
break away. 

Well, to proceed further, the employment manager was 
prejudiced against this particular buyer. I won her over by 
insisting that she ’phone the head stenographer, secure her 
good graces, and she would never come in contact with the 

manager. 

Well, I am going to curtail a lengthy story by reciting re- 
* suits: 

We secured the order for eleven machines. The buyer and 
our manager became fast friends. The buyer and our employ¬ 
ment manager became fast friends. But—although the buyer 
was satisfied with his purchase, he never gave me the satisfac¬ 
tion of knowing it—only telling the other parties that he 
could not escape the persistence of that fellow, Pickett, besides 
lauding the efficiency of our employment department and the 
sterling qualities of our good manager. 






176 


TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 


PROVED HIS CASE 

By N. Lewsen 

1 WAS trying to introduce our Forgery Bond to a very 
stubborn prospect, whom we will call Mr. Jones. After 
arguments pro and con, Mr. Jones finally agreed with me 
that our Forgery Bond affords a very good protection and 
that every Treasurer ought to cover his firm’s bank account, 
at least during the present crime wave. But his firm for years 
had set aside from its surplus a certain sum of money to take 
care of all forms of insurance they decided to carry from time 
to time. The directors believe that it is good business for 
them to carry their own insurance. 

‘ ‘ I thank you, Mr. Lewsen, for convincing me that we need 
this form of insurance. At the next meeting of the Board I 
will request the directors to authorize me to set aside twenty- 
five thousand ($25,000) dollars from our surplus which we 
happen to have at this time. Of course, I am sorry that you 
have spent your time for nothing, but you can readily see 
that since we carry our own insurance, there will be nothing 
we can do for you. ’ ’ 

I replied that I was very glad to find Mr. Jones a careful 
enough financier to realize that he needs this form of protec¬ 
tion. Continuing my conversation, I said: “Of course, Mr. 
Jones, since you carry your own insurance, I have nothing 
further to say, except that this form of crime is new and very 
important at this time. This protection may not be needed 
in ten years from now, but it is of great importance to you 
now, today. You may have a loss before you have the 
directors’ meeting, and on the other hand, you may never 
have a loss. In fact, I am willing to gamble and bet you right 
now Twenty-Five Thousand good American Dollars, secured 
by a bond of the world’s largest Surety Company, against 
your check for One Hundred and Twenty-Five Dollars, that 
no crook will touch your bank account for the next year. If 





TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 177 


any crook, in any way, manipulates your check or checks 
against you for the next year, we will pay any amount up to 
Twenty-Five Thousand Dollars.” 

Mr. Jones, after thinking for a few minutes, exclaimed: 
“Mr. Lewsen, you are betting two hundred dollars to one 
dollar that if we lose you pay?” 

“Yes, Mr. Jones.” 

“I will go you, for I guess the twenty-five thousand dollars 
surplus divided into dividend checks will look good to the 
stockholders. I am glad you have put it in the form of a bet, 
and since it is a good bet, I am willing to gamble.” 





178 


TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 


SOLD THEM FAST AS THEY CAME 

By J. J. Hoffman 


HE room was rather dark when I called on Mrs. Zorick, 



who lives on the North Side in Pittsburgh, so I couldn’t 


recognize the face of the woman who was calling on her, 
but I recognized the voice when she said: 

“Good morning, Mr. H.” 

It was a Mrs. Kirk, on whom I had called a few days before, 
and who had signed a contract which I was holding for a few 
days for the initial payment. 

When I w r as about half through with the presentation of 
my proposition to Mrs. Zorick, Mrs. Kirk excused herself and 
left the house. I hadn’t gone very much further when a cry 
of fire was heard. There was more than the usual excitement 
when we learned that fire had broken out in the basement in 
Mrs. Zorick’s home. Well, that upset things for awhile, and 
when the excitement had died away, I proceeded with the 
interview. A little later Mrs. Zorick was called outside by 
one of the neighbors, and when she came back I could see that 
her attitude towards my proposition had completely changed, 
so I said to her: 

“Wasn’t that Mrs. Kirk who called you out?” 


She said, “Yes.” 


“What did she tell you about this proposition?” 

‘ ‘ She told me under no circumstances to take it. ’ ’ 

“Now, isn’t that strange? Mrs. Kirk is going to take it 
and I have her order right here. ’ ’ 

I then presented the contract signed by Mrs. Kirk. 

“What Mrs. Kirk wants to do is to get ahead of you. She 
doesn’t want you to have it.” 

Mrs. Zorick said, “Isn’t that funny? I am going to 


take it.” 





TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 


179 


So slie signed up but slie didn’t have money in the house 
for the initial payment, and while we were discussing plans 
for making the initial payment Mrs. Zorick’s sister called. 
Her sister said: 

“You don’t want to take that. You are buying everything 
that comes along. You are too easy. Anybody can sell you.” 

So I had to proceed to sell the sister. I went over the prop¬ 
osition with her from beginning to end, and while her sister 
was not a prospect for our work, inasmuch as she had no 
children, she was sold to the extent that she was willing to 
loan Mrs. Zorick money to make the first payment. 

I don’t think I ever had an interview in which there were 
so many discouraging features any one of which, if not prop¬ 
erly handled, would have been sufficient excuse for giving up 
and not landing the order. 





180 


TALES OP UNUSUAL SALES 


SHOWING THE MOTHER 

By Theodore Belt 

I WAS selling educational courses in Cincinnati, Ohio, and 
Kentucky cities of Covington and Newport, across the 
river. A girl interested in a shorthand course wrote to 
the school for information. The “lead” was sent to me, and 
so one evening I went across to Covington to the home of the 
young lady. 

She invited me in and after my selling talk was completed, 
she expressed herself as wanting the course, but as her mother 
was to pay for it, she would not sign the enrollment blank 
without the mother's consent. At that I asked to see her 
mother, but she was over to a neighbor's house. While we 
were talking, the mother came in and when I told her the 
daughter wanted the course and what it would mean to the 
girl, the mother responded in an irritated tone of voice that 
the girl 1 ‘ didn't know her own mind, ’' that she had been given 
music lessons and had quit. She had quit school before she 
had completed the course, and it would be the same with this. 
“She couldn't stick to anything,” said the mother. 

I thought I saw an opportunity and as I picked up my hat 
and overcoat, I turned to the mother and said, “All right, I 
don't want to enroll such a girl in our school. As you say, 
she won't stick to it, and a girl never amounts to anything 
when her mother loses confidence in her.' ’ 

I walked out of the door, but not too soon to see the mother 
throw her arms around her daughter’s neck and hear her say, 
“What have I done. Oh! what have I done.” 

When I went to the office the next afternoon to make mj- 
daily report, the office girl stated that a little woman from 
Covington had handed in an enrollment blank that day made 
out and signed by her daughter. The tuition was paid in full. 





TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 


181 


SOLD BY SELLING 

By H. A. Pound 

S OME time ago, while selling training for a correspondence 
school, I had occasion to call on a prospect who was 
working for a firm where all of the other men who 
chummed together were taking training with a competitive 
school. I was sure that he was the key-man to break in on, 
so I sent the best junior I had to call on him, after having 
gathered all the data I could about him. This junior was a 
very good man and used all of the information he had in the 
way he had always used it with success. In this case he tried 
courtesy, persuasion, shame, and finally abuse, to get his pros¬ 
pect to see the need of our training. He admitted all that 
the junior said, but did not sign, and the junior came back 
after several hours of work and reported, ‘ * N. G. ’ ’ 

I still had a feeling that he was my man, so I went to see 
him personally, at the place where he worked. He was very 
polite and talked in a very nice way, but said he was not 
convinced that the training offered was what he wanted. He 
was a floor salesman for his firm which, by the way, sold auto 
accessories, and he wanted to be sure that the training would 
help him in salesmanship. The course that I was offering was 
a general business course. 

After talking with him for some time, opportunity came my 
way in the person of a farmer who drove up to the place in 
a car that you cannot camouflage. It was apparently almost 
new, but very muddy. There had been no rain in that imme¬ 
diate vicinity for several days, so I knew that he must have 
driven in for at least ten or more miles. He asked for some 
auto cleaner, and as Pimley’s Auto Newer was the popular 
brand handled by this firm, my prospect, whom I will call 
Brown, suggested this and told the man that one can would 
clean his car. The farmer agreed to take a can and Brown 









182 


TALES OP UNUSUAL SALES 


went to get it. At this point I stepped up to the farmer and 
said: 

4 ‘Pardon me, but I am interested here. How far do you 
drive in to get this cleaner ? ? ’ He replied: 

“About eighteen miles.” I then asked if it was not handled 
by a dealer in his town, and he replied, “No.” I then sug¬ 
gested that he take a dozen cans as it did not spoil if unopened 
and he could get a bit better price. He appreciated the sug¬ 
gestion and so I told Brown to bring a dozen cans, and at 
the same time, I asked the farmer what he cleaned his car with. 
He replied, “Old rags.” I warned him of the danger of 
scratching thin varnish beyond repair with a button left on old 
rags by mistake, and sold him a sponge and chamois. He 
left the place, after thanking me for my interest, with ten 
times more than what he had planned to buy. 

I then turned to Brown and started a lecture on Salesman¬ 
ship, when I was interrupted by a man who wanted a flash¬ 
light. Brown waited on him and was wrapping up the pur¬ 
chase when I edged over to him and told him to sell the man 
an extra battery and bulb, as I knew from experience how 
often a light fails at a vital time. He did so and then we had 
our chance to talk, and in a very short time I had his applica¬ 
tion and a check in full for same. 





TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 


183 


AVOIDED AN ARGUMENT 

By Herbert N. Casson 

1 HAVE been selling goods, off and on, for over 40 years— 
ever since I was 12 years old; and the best sale I ever 
made took place in England, several years ago. 

A firm of engine-builders had written asking me to call. I 
went. I was shown into a large directors’ room and found 
five directors sitting solemnly around the table. 

“Mr. Casson,” said the president, “we have sent for you 
to ask about the nature of your efficiency service. We would 
like to know if it would be of advantage to our works, etc., 
etc.” 

I looked at the five directors and I saw no signs of en¬ 
thusiasm. I suspected that I had been asked in for an argu¬ 
ment, and I saw at once that the odds were 5 to 1 against me. 

So, I decided in a flash that there would be no argument. 
I would take it for granted that they were in earnest. I 
replied cheerfully— 

“YES, I CAN GIVE YOU FRIDAYS.” 

In ten minutes I was out on the street, with an order for 
$3,000 worth of Efficiency Service. I had made the sale with 
six ivords —$500 a word. 




184 


TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 


DIPLOMACY AS AN AID TO SALESMANSHIP 

By C. E. MacCanon 

1 WAS representing a firm of Federal Tax Experts, Wash¬ 
ington, D. C., who were, and are, rendering a really val¬ 
uable and helpful service along those lines. The expe¬ 
rience I am about to relate was with the head of a bank of 
considerable size in one of the larger cities of a southern state. 

I had called on and “displayed my wares” to the auditor 
of the bank, completely selling him on the proposition, but he 
frankly stated that I would have to sell Mr. Jones (that 
wasn’t his name), the president of the bank, “as he decides 
all such matters.” I learned after the sale was made, not 
before, that he decides all matters of whatever kind con¬ 
nected with the bank, that required any “deciding.” That, 
while there was the usual organization of vice-presidents, 
cashiers and assistants, tellers, etc., a total of perhaps two or 
three scores of people, it was in reality a “one-man” bank, 
the rest of them being simply figureheads. 

Mr. Jones was of that arrogant, tyrannical type, who rides 
roughshod over everyone having the temerity to take the 
initiative in any way. Particularly was that his attitude in 
the bank, but to a considerable extent he carried on his domi¬ 
neering methods in his connection with affairs on the outside. 
I sat in lodge with him later on, and even there, he was 
“kowtowed” to, to a certain extent. 

At my request, Mr. Smith, the auditor (but that wasn’t his 
name either), said he would try to arrange an appointment for 
me, as Mr. Jones was out just then, but he would not agree 
to recommend the proposition. “I’ll tell him I think it’s all 
right, if he asks me,” was the best I could get out of him. 
But he succeeded in making the appointment next day at ten 
o ’clock. 

Promptly at ten o’clock “little Willie” was there. Mr. 
Jones was in his office, but engaged for the minute with an- 






TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 185 


other gentleman. Presently, the door opened and the other 
gentleman came out, followed by Mr. Jones, hat in hand, 
evidently intending to leave the bank, regardless of his ap¬ 
pointment with me. But by this time I had gotten a few 
ideas as to the type of man I had to deal with, and had no 
intention of letting him get away from me if I could possibly 
stop him, realizing that making another appointment would 
be difficult to accomplish. 

As he was following the other gentleman out, it being per¬ 
fectly apparent that lie intended doing so without so much 
as even asking me to postpone the appointment, I managed 
to plant myself squarely in his path, so that he had either 
to run over me or stop. He stopped, and, stepping back a 
pace or two, deliberately looked me “up one side and down 
the other, ’ ’ and then, noticing my brief case said, with all the 
contempt imaginable in his voice, face, and attitude: “ Oh! 
You’re that income tax man, aren’t you?” 

“Yes, sir.” 

“Well, we’ve decided we don’t want your service,” he said 
in the most insolent tone and with absolute finality, and 
started to pass as though he considered the “interview" 
closed. Again I stepped in front of him and said: 

“I don’t believe I quite understand you, Mr. Jones.” 

“I say we’ve decided we don’t want your service, that’s 
all,” now raising his voice. By both tone and manner, he 
apparently expected to completely squelch me. But I said 
with just a trace of a sneer in my voice: 

“Oh, you have?” 

“Yes,” very positively. 

“Well, Mr. Jones. How did you happen to decide that you 
don’t want my service?” 

“We just decided that we don’t want it, that’s all.” By 
now he was plainly excited and almost shouting, so that the 
employees of the bank began to “sit up and take notice. 
Managing to maintain an even tone of voice, although I con¬ 
fess I felt like shouting too, I asked: 





186 


TALES OP UNUSUAL SALES 


“But what do you know about my service, which caused 
you to decide that you don’t want it?” 

“Not much, I guess. We just decided that we don’t want 
it.” 

“Have I had an opportunity to tell you anything about 
it?” 

“No.” 

“Was Mr. Smith able to tell you enough about it to enable 
you to decide, on its merits, that this bank doesn’t need it?” 

“No.” 

“Well, Mr. Jones, will you please tell me by what process 
of logical reasoning you decided that you don’t want some¬ 
thing that you confess you don’t know anything about?” 

“We talked it over and decided that we don’t want it, 
that’s all there is to it.” 

Well, I thought I might as well “die for an old sheep as 
a lamb”—didn’t have a ghost of a show to sell him as I 
could see—had “everything to gain and nothing to lose”— 
so I said, with an assurance that I certainly didn’t feel: 

“Mr. Jones. It’s a habit of mine as an American citizen 
to stand up for my rights. I don’t suppose I have a chance 
in the world to sell you, in fact, I wouldn’t give fifteen cents 
for my chance, but I’m here on your invitation. You, your¬ 
self, appointed the time, ten o’clock this morning, when I 
should come to your office and lay before you the advantages 
of our service—to show you just why some of the biggest 
banks and other corporations in the country are using it. 
In view of that appointment, I’m here. Therefore, I demand 
the opportunity to be heard. If then, after you know what 
my proposition is, you don’t want to take advantage of it, 
all well and good. But, in all justice between man and man, 
it’s only fair to me that you shall hear me.” 

I expected he’d have me thrown out, but instead he turned, 
went into his office and slumped into a chair with the air of 
a whipped puppy. I followed, and after asking me to sit 
down, he said that he would listen to me. His dominant and 






TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 


187 


arrogant bearing was gone and in its place was an expression 
of sneering tolerance. But I had him licked. 

Well, I went ahead and carefully laid before him my propo¬ 
sition, taking up the different points deliberately and explain¬ 
ing them as logically as I knew how, and with all the earnest 
forcefulness at my command. Very soon his expression 
changed to one of intelligent interest. After I had gone 
through the proposition, and was simply enlarging upon some 
of the points, waiting for him to decide, he interrupted me 
saying, “Wait a minute.’’ He stepped out to consult with 
the auditor and after a few minutes, returned and said, 
“We’ll take your service, Mr. Smith will fix you up,” and 
turning abruptly, walked out. I left the bank with a check 
for a full year’s service, representing a very attractive com¬ 
mission for me. 

I had won for three reasons: First—the sheer audacity 
of standing my ground and demanding my rights; second— 
I made him appear ridiculous to himself in the attitude he 
had taken—“Out of his own mouth he was condemned.” 
Third—while he got excited and very angry, I managed to 
appear calm, carrying on my part of the dialogue in a firm 
and even tone of voice. 






188 


TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 


SIDESTEPPED IMPOSSIBLE PROMISES 

By H. W. Ashton 

W HILE selling an Industrial Service which was mostly 
talking points with nothing to show or to prove, I 
often found it very difficult to meet competition on 
account of the many verbal promises that many salesmen 
make of a very doubtful nature. 

One firm that I had called on many times and had been 
refused as often, one day sent me a letter to call and to pre¬ 
sent my proposition before their Board of Management, which 
was to consist of the heads of the different departments. On 
my arrival I was taken into a private room to meet these 
people, and at once knew that I was to have many difficult 
questions to answer, which I felt sure I could satisfy. I also 
knew I would be asked questions and quizzed as to just how 
much they could get me to offer, based on many wild promises 
of some of the other salesmen. 

The question with me was how to stop them making impos¬ 
sible requests and at the same time to offer a service that 
would be full and satisfactory to them. 

So on taking my place at the head of the table, I stated 
that I was going into details and explain fully just exactly 
what our service would do and at the same time I was going 
to answer all their questions even before they put them by 
telling them just what we did NOT do. 

At the close of my talk, of course no questions were asked, 
but a vote was taken on the proposition, and my proposition 
received a favorable vote from all and the business. 






TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 


189 


GOT DOWN TO “BRASS TACKS” 

By L. Smith 

S ELLING Industrial Efficiency Service is considered a 
very difficult proposition at the best of times, but selling 
it in the month of August is hardest of all. 

The Service is of such a nature that in presenting it for 
consideration, you have nothing to show, and simply have to 
depend on your knowledge of the subject and to get your 
prospective customer to thinking the same as you do. 

Being thoroughly convinced and sold on its merits myself, 
my only task was to be able to convey the same thought and 
get responsive action from the prospective customer. 

One very hard prospect that I had been calling on, a man 
that must be shown, continually refused to enter into the 
proposition, and refused in such a decided way that it seemed 
to leave no question as to what he meant. He could always 
bring out many objections and use that attitude of not being 
interested. But this spurred me on to greater action and 
seemed to give me added strength, for I made up my mind 
right there that I must convince and sell this man. 

I could reason away everything he objected to—but he 
would not give his “yes,” so I kept calling every few days— 
and in a way that was pleasant and did not urge too strongly, 
but just enough to let him see that I felt he was making a 
mistake in not taking it on. 

So one day toward the end of the third week I made up 
my mind that I had held him safely that long and that I 
would have to push matters further, or else lose all the good 
I had accomplished, so I called again and was received in the 
same pleasant way, and at once opened up with these re¬ 
marks: “Mr. Blank, I have called a good many times and 
have appreciated the interviews you have given me, and from 
what I have seen of you I know you are not a man to pass 






190 


TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 


up anything that will benefit your business, and I have some¬ 
thing that will surely benefit it, so I am going to ask if instead 
of our discussing the matter in the way that we have in the 
past, may I suggest that we get down to ‘Brass Tacks?’ By 
that I mean that we take up each point in the proposition one 
at a time and discuss it to a finish, and then if you are not 
convinced as to the merits and benefits of the proposition, 
I will be satisfied to admit that my proposition is not what I 
have believed it to be.” 

This idea struck him at once and he seemed glad to take it 
up in this manner, and I had visions of action at once. Then 
we discussed each point one at a time very carefully, and I 
noticed that his objections were getting less and less and losing 
strength as we went along, but he carefully concealed any 
feeling of conviction, until at the finish I asked him—“How 
do you feel on the matter now ? ’ ’ He gave me one stern look, 
then laughed and said—“Young man, you thoroughly believe 
in your proposition, you have also persisted in a most pleas¬ 
ant way, you have also been honest and fair in discussing 
each point, and you have a thorough knowledge of the subject, 
and if you are as convinced of a thing that you handle as 
you have shown by your actions, in coming again and again, 
without any fear of your proposition, then I am willing to 
accept your judgment, and admit that the strongest factor in 
convincing me has been—your own confidence in your proposi¬ 
tion, and it has given me confidence not only in you but in 
your proposition, and I will sign at once.” 





TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 


191 


NOT TAKING “NO” FOR AN ANSWER 

By 0. A. Cross 

T HE best sale I ever made was when I sold my services 
to one of the best jobbers in my line of business. It 
happened this way: 

I was just through my apprenticeship at “Wood Pattern¬ 
making” at the Baldwin Locomotive Works, when I ap¬ 
proached my foreman, Mr. W. Parry, and asked him for jour¬ 
neyman ’s wage. He said, ‘ ‘ Of course, I will see that you get 
it, and you can stay here as long as you please, but if I were 
in your place, I would travel and gain experience in other 
shops. ’’ 

The next morning I thought of what he had told me, so I 
looked up the “ads” in the morning paper. There was an 
“ad” in the paper: 

“Apply to Cooper Jobbing shop.” 

Now a jobbing shop is considered the hardest shop to work 
in as you must produce, or out you go. They always pay 
more than the industrial shops. When I saw the “ad,” I 
said to myself, “Me for Coopers.” So I went bright and 
early and saw Mr. Cooper’s foreman. 

He wanted to know where I had worked and I told him the 
B. L. W. Co., and he said, “Where else?” I told him I was 
just through my apprenticeship. “Well,” he said, “I don’t 
think you will do. We want men, not boys.” 

“Well,” I said, “where do you expect to get your men, if 
you don’t give your boys a chance?” That settled it. He 
said: 

“Boy, bring your tools and start work at once.” He asked 
me what wages I wanted and I told him the ‘ ‘ best he paid. ’ ’ I 
started working for him at once, and when pay-day came, he 
came to me and said he could not pay me very much, and 








192 TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 


laid my pay envelope, face down, on my bench. He walked 
away. You can imagine how I felt. I was ready to quit 
right off the bat, and when 1 picked up my pay and looked 
at it, I nearly dropped dead of heart failure. He had paid 
me the best. 

You can see what that meant for me, just starting on my 
career. I consider this the best sale I ever made. I forgot 
to say I was the last man in the shop to go, out of an average 
of twenty men. I was kept until all his work was finished— 
about five months. I have always, therefore, token my old 
foreman’s advice, “Travel and gain experience, and make 
new friends and acquaintances.” 






TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 


193 


SOLD HIMSELF 

By M. Robb 

W HEN the going becomes discouraging, we often need 
only confidence in the line and a true inspiration to 
help us bring home the Beech-Nut. Well, I had 
several inspirations—my wife, a sixteen months’ old boy, a 
four days’ old baby, and necessity in the form of a depleted 
cash fund. A position must be had. 

An “ad"’ came to my attention, one calling for a man to 
fill an advertising and sales position. My application was re¬ 
ceived among sixty others. It brought an interview with a 
resulting: “We can’t decide now, there are many others to 
be considered. You’ll hear from us later.” 

1 couldn’t wait, I had to land that position and land it 
quickly. My prospective employer was a manufacturer of 
biscuits, whose line, properly priced, was known in his terri¬ 
tory as supreme in true excellence. While visiting my wife 
at the hospital, I noted a nurse bringing in soup and crackers. 
It gave me the idea of helping my cause with follow-up letter 
No. 1 which called attention to the many patients in Milwau¬ 
kee hospitals who received soup and crackers daily. Whose 
crackers? Might I help to put Mr. X’s crackers on those 
plates? And, why not good cookies here also, for cakes and 
pies are forbidden? Let me help to cash in on these possi¬ 
bilities for Mr. X’s line. 

Follow-up No. 1 brought results in the form of an interview 
with Mr. X on whom the letter had made a good impression, 
for no other applicant had done more than call or write a 
letter of application. But Mr. X was sorry that I was not a 
University graduate for he had decided that he must have a 
“U” man. (Of course, I couldn’t become a “U” man over¬ 
night. His objection had to be met and removed if the sale 
was to be made.) 






194 


TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 


I asked Mr. X liow he’d get a strong man if he wished 
to hire one. Mr. X hadn’t given it thought. I suggested that 
he could hire a gymnast or a blacksmith. One was school 
trained, the other experience trained. Mr. X agreed that the 
blacksmith would be the better choice because he could stand 
the strain, being strong from actual work. 

“Then,” I said, “why not use me, I’m the blacksmith, 
I’ll meet your requirements because my experience has made 
me qualified.” But Mr. X wouldn’t see it that way, he said 
that he wanted a “U” man. He’d bear me in mind. 

That evening waiting at the club for hospital visiting hours, 
I noticed how many bought candy for light lunch. This sug¬ 
gested follow-up letter No. 2, setting forth the prospective 
customers if Mr. X’s sales department would replace some of 
this candy with his excellent real chocolate cookies. Raisins 
at 5 cents were selling, surely superior cookies would go big 
here, and also crackers for those who bought soup. Might I 
prove the worth of my suggestions ? 

Follow-up letter No. 2 brought a reply that applications 
had been eliminated down to three survivors, of whom I was 
one. The telling sales argument was needed, the time had 
come for real initiative and ability. Following letter No. 3 
supplied the punch by removing Mr. X’s only argument 
against taking me on. He had said that he could not afford 
to gamble—then I must remove the gamble. Letter No. 3 
asked Mr. X to take me on as a clerk at a clerk’s salary and 
at the same time hire his “U” man for the position. Surely 
I’d earn a clerk salary and the “U” man would be holding 
down the position. (The gamble was gone.) At the end of 
a year Mr. X was to decide who was worth most to him. 

It took real confidence “in the line” to mail that letter. 
What if Mr. X took me as a clerk only, how would I take care 
of my family without a reserve cash fund ? 

But, follow-up letter No. 3 won the sale for me. A phone 
call, asking me to call, greeted me early on the morning of 
the third day following the mailing of No. 3. Mr. X called 
me in, shook hands and said: “Robb, you win. I surely 







TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 195 


hope you’ll sell for me as you have sold yourself. And, pass 
that spirit on to the men.” 

That’s all, the Beech-Nut had come home because I had 
followed the game through. And believe me, Mr. X was by 
no means an easy nut to crack. 





196 


TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 


DRAMATIZED A SITUATION 

By E. W. Branson 

1 MADE my greatest sale while engaged in selling sewing 
machines in a retail way. In one locality our company 
had a man on the job who invariably had prospects on his 
list whom he couldn’t seem to close an order with. Eventually 
the sales manager decided to give the salesman aid with these 
prospects and elected to choose me. Under these conditions 
I naturally determined to exert every effort to make a large 
percentage of sales. 

The first call offered the opportunity for the best sale. A 
well-to-do farmer, a hardworking, tight-fisted chap of about 
fifty-five, was the prospective customer. His wife, a wan- 
appearing little body, strived in the fields from early spring 
until late autumn to help the husband reduce his labor pay¬ 
roll, did her housework and gave the necessary attention to 
five young children in addition. During the winter months, 
whilst the husband would sit before the fireplace and rest 
easily a greater part of the time, she would sew by hand, 
making all the clothes worn by the children, even to the 
boys’ suits. 

I was impressed as the salesman related the facts to me, 
but it was nothing compared to how I felt when I faced the 
actual conditions. The man was not in the house when we 
arrived and I soon learned from the little woman her burning 
desire to have a sewing machine, her willingness to pay half 
the cost of the machine with the proceeds of a sale of eleven 
geese she had made recently, if her husband could be per¬ 
suaded to furnish the balance. 

When he came in I explained the exclusive features which 
our machine possessed, gave an actual demonstration (we 
carried a machine at all times), showed him whereby the 
wife could do the sewing so much easier and quicker, and— 
refused to bid him a gentle farewell when he would angrily 





TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 


197 


declare they didn’t want a machine. Instead I would explain 
again features I had not elaborated on fully, only to receive 
the same gruff answer each time. This continued for about two 
hours and a half, when suddenly I concluded that far different 
tactics had to be adopted. With the decision I plunged in, 
inspired by the pleading countenance of the little woman who 
had not dared offer a single word of conversation since the 
husband had appeared. 

I made bold to tell him his life’s story as 1 had heard it, 
defying him to deny it, declaring brazenly that he should be 
ashamed of himself. Under the pressure he raved and 
stormed, attempting to cover his shortcomings with bluster, 
and ordered me from the house whenever he could squeeze a 
word in. I only fought the harder. I pleaded, tried to appeal 
to his finer side, pointed dramatically at the children as I 
pictured to him the amount of stitches necessary to clothe 
them, and for those few moments at least endeavored gamely 
to play a fair second to John Drew. Finally I hesitated, 
questioning the outcome. 

As I did so I glimpsed a check book lying upon the table. 
I grasped it, wrote a check to my concern for the price of the 
machine, handed it and my fountain pen to the man and 
demanded that he sign it, and the machine on display was 
theirs. Sullenly he slowly took the pen and signed the check 
as the delighted woman disappeared and returned with the 
money she had saved. As I took the check I shoved the 
money back toward her and remarked casually that the check 
was for the full amount. As the truth dawned on the hus¬ 
band, I stared squarely at him and said, “The Mrs. gets a 
new dress with that money and when I call again 1 want to 
see the dress as proof that my plans didn’t go astray. Good- 
day and good luck.” 

As we drove away I experienced the greatest feeling ever. 
I had sold a “tough” customer our product, but of this I 
honestly wasn’t thinking; rather, came a vision of a motherly 
face joyfully alight as I had closed the door. I had sold an 
order of happiness. 







198 


TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 


ONE GOOD TURN DESERVES ANOTHER 

By E. A. Hall 

A S a service representative for the - Storage 

Battery Company, it is my job to establish service sta¬ 
tions in localities where from two to five thousand cars 
are registered. 

It is not an easy matter to convince a man who sells a well- 
known battery exclusively that he should change his whole 
business to a new proposition. However, having been a prac¬ 
tical battery man, I, perhaps, have an advantage over a bat¬ 
tery salesman whose knowledge of batteries is more or less 
academic. 

There were two stations handling the same make of battery 
located within half a mile of each other, one of which I 
wished to sell. I traveled back and forth between these two 
stations, trying to make them both see the advantages of my 
proposition. 1 made it a point to present the strong points of 
our product which I knew were in direct contrast to my 
competitor’s. 

However, their battery was listed at a cheaper price and 
they worked under a larger discount than I could offer. I 
gained the confidence of one of these men, who told me that, 
although he was thoroughly sold on my proposition, yet he 
was planning to enter another business and had a prospective 
purchaser for his station. He promised to get in touch with 
me when he sold the place. 

In about two weeks’ time the station passed into the hands 
of a ‘‘Canny Scotchman,” a man whose emotions were hard 
to arouse—a “facts and figures” man who kept no loose 
change in his pocket. After giving him full details, he said 
that he would discuss the matter with his wife and asked that 
I meet them in the store after working hours. I did so but 
could not bring him to a decision. He wanted to think it 
over more carefully. 









TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 


199 


In a few days I returned and found him struggling with 
several customers who wanted their batteries tested. I took 
off my coat and “turned to.” I opened a battery which 
showed on test that one cell was low, and explained the cir¬ 
cumstances to the car owner. Feeling reasonably certain that 
the car owner wanted one of my batteries, I called in the 
prospect and let him close the sale. He was visibly pleased 
over his sale for he had little difficulty in selling the car 
owner one of my batteries. 

He then signed the contract and gave me a nice order for 
batteries. 





200 


TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 


MADE DRAMATICS PAY 

By A. M. Prevost 

1 HAPPENED to be at the head of a sales force of a con¬ 
cern which handled automobiles and trucks. Several 
years before I had sort of pioneered the line in a newly 
settled country which still comprised a good part of our ter¬ 
ritory. It was a busy morning and I was kept on the jump 
appraising cars and helping the salesmen. The office girl 
came out and announced that a man and his wife were wait¬ 
ing in the office to see me, and would talk to no one else. 

When I got time to investigate I found that they were 
neighbors of a man to whom I had sold a car several years 
before, and that they were in the market for a truck of the 
same make. 

We were at that time handling two lines. One was consid¬ 
ered a fast truck, and the other was slower. The latter was 
the one the man had settled upon, so I showed it to him, and 
was tickled to death to do so for it was the only thing we 
had had in months that didn't sell. I had looked it in the 
face every night and morning for eleven months when I 
checked up the stock, and now the prospect of bidding it 
farewell elated me. 

But I soon found that the woman was going to have some¬ 
thing to say. She wanted to ride in the fast truck, and I 
of course couldn’t refuse her the privilege. When we re¬ 
turned she was loud in her praise of it and said that it rode 
like a touring car. 

Then the trouble started. He was determined to have the 
one of his choice, and she was just as determined to have 
hers, and for thirty minutes they stood there arguing the 
points of the two machines in a very creditable manner for 
amateurs. And to make the thing more complicated they— 
as I am told husbands and wives often do—got “spunky” at 
each other. 





TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 


201 


I saw that something must be done, so I got them into the 
office. I gave the man a good cigar, and stole the stenog¬ 
rapher’s candy—she always had a supply on hand—and gave 
it to the woman and her little boy. 

We forgot about trucks and began to talk of their neigh¬ 
bors whom I had known in those other years, and finally I 
decided that the time had arrived to make a sale or lose it. 

Taking upon myself the most solemn air I knew—and it 
was really a solemn moment for me—I told them how I had 
once been called a “Dry lander” because I chose to work out 
in their territory, and how I had come to love their plains. 
I complained about having to live in town, and drew a picture 
of how happy I would be if I had a homestead and a good 
little wife to help me. I knew I would never know real hap¬ 
piness until I had a wife and a home and children. I told 
the man that the greatest blessing known to man was that of 
being a father, and I told the woman that woman’s God- 
given heritage was that of motherhood. 

Then very cautious^ I eased over into the truck question, 
and using the figures the man had given me—as nearly as I 
could from memory—I tried to show them what they could 
do. It meant a new house for their homestead, I pointed out, 
and that meant home. That word HOME, I told them, was 
the greatest in all the English language, and as best I could 
I read them the following little poem. 

“A house is built of bricks and stones, of sills and posts and 
piers, 

A home is built of loving deeds that last a thousand years . 

The men of earth build houses, roofs and chambers, halls and 
domes, 

But the women of earth, Ood bless them, the women build 
the homes.” 

Tears were very near the surface—as they say—when I fin¬ 
ished, and turned to the woman. “It is your husband’s duty 
to build the house, Mrs. So and So, and it is your duty to 
make it a home, and I know of no better way for him to carry 




TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 


202 


out his part of that sacred obligation than the way he has 
outlined. 

With her little handkerchief the woman dabbed at her eyes, 
and gave her consent for the man to take his choice. And 
the man, the hard-hearted rascal, looked across the desk at 
me and winked. 

I wrote the order, and they both signed it and gave me a 
check, and to this day, when I meet the lady, she wants to 
shake hands with me and looks at me as if I were a minister. 

The man built the house, and I have every reason to believe 
the woman is trying to make it a HOME, and I have learned 
that the pulpit is not the only place from which to preach 
a gospel that will lead folks into the right way. 





TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 


203 


REPARTEE AND NERVE 

By C. D. Holcomb 

T HIS happened in an Oklahoma town some time ago. I 
was salesman and special demonstrator for the Hoover 
Suction Sweeper Company, North Canton, Ohio, and 
with whom I am still connected. 

There was a certain street in this particular town of about 
three blocks in length, and as I would judge, was inhabited 
with second class people. We were advertising a free home 
demonstration and trial. A woman residing on this street 
called up and asked that a demonstrator from our company 
be sent out to her home and give a demonstration of our 
vacuum sweeper as was advertised. 

It happened that I was sent out from our dealer’s store 
(electrical) to give her a demonstration of our machine. I 
left the Hoover at her home and called back the next day to 
make the sale. However, I could not sell her even though her 
rugs were clean and looked very good. It seemed almost 
impossible to make the sale as her rugs were worth only about 
$50 and the vacuum sweeper was selling at $65. She frankly 
admitted that she could not afford the Hoover, and realizing 
that it would be poor salesmanship and unfair to the prospect 
to make this sale, 1 took the machine and went back to the 
store. 

That afternoon, our store received another call for a free 
demonstration from another housewife on this same street. I 
was again sent out to give the demonstration of our machine 
and found that the circumstances were identical in both cases. 
We received many calls from this small section of the town 
and found that the women were simply having these demon¬ 
strations made to have their rugs cleaned free of cost, and 
I played the game willingly and was a good loser. 

However, from among all these calls, one was received from 









204 TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 


a woman with an overabundance of avoirdupois, and after 
making the usual demonstration I said; 

“Mrs. Blank, if you are really thinking of buying a sweeper, 
and after this demonstration, you are interested in a Hoover, 
I am very willing to let you try this machine out for several 
days longer to erase any doubt which there may be in your 
mind.” 

“No,” replied Mrs. Blank. “I want the Hoover but my 
husband would have to see this machine before I could buy 
it.” 

I assured her that that was satisfactory with me and asked 
her at what time her husband would be at home. She in¬ 
formed me about 1 o’clock, but that I had better not come 
back until about 2 P. M. I thought perhaps that it would 
be better to leave the machine with her and let her use it. 
She would then be more acquainted with the mechanism— 
and above all—she would sell her husband on the idea of how 
necessary it was to her. However, I impressed upon her mind 
that if her husband insisted it was too much money, she 
should call me up and 1 would come to her aid. 

Returning to the store, I told the fellows that if I ever 
got a start on that street I was certainly going to make a 
“grand clean up.” They laughed and told me that I was 
simply killing time to try and work that street, as the women 
were simply using the demonstration as a means of getting 
their spring house-cleaning done. However, I was game and 
felt that there was more to it than what they said. 

Soon after I returned to the store, one of the men who 
occasionally helped out, came back from his lunch, and it 
happened that this young fellow lived on the street where I 
was doing all this “free house cleaning.” He immediately 
came to me and said: 

‘ ‘ Why, that Mrs. Blank can’t buy a sweeper—she is simply 
working you and just now I saw her going across the street 
with the machine to clean her neighbors’ rugs.” 

Well, that was the last straw for me. I didn’t mind Mrs. 
Blank doing her cleaning, but I did hate to have her loan it 





TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 205 


to the whole neighborhood, so I got into my ear and went 
straight out to her house. I knocked on the door and as she 
came out I said: 

“Mrs. Blank, has your husband come home yet?” She 
replied that he had not. I then proceeded to tell her that 
I did not mind how much she used the sweeper, but that I 
wished she would not loan it to any one else. I reminded her 
of the fact that the sweeper had been adjusted for her rugs 
and that the party to whom she loaned it might not be familiar 
in the way the Hoover was operated. 

I again returned to the store and almost as I entered it the 
phone rang. It was Mrs. Blank calling me to come and get 
the machine, and she was especially desirous that I come and 
get it before her husband came home. When I reached her 
house she threw a tit of anger and had as a very able assistant 
a little thin, elderly woman who was holding the Hoover. 
She was the one who had borrowed the machine. Well, they 
got me in a corner and there I was. I could not get a word 
in edgeways—and I didn’t try. There they kept me for thirty 
minutes, and not wanting to get the reputation of being a 
woman fighter, I remained perfectly still during all that time. 
The conversation of the two women went something like this: 

Mrs. Blank: “I wouldn’t have that old cleaner now if you 
gave it to me. I know who told you that he saw me take it 
across the street. The old rascal, but he can’t fool me. I’ll 
show him how to mind his own business and let other folks 
alone. I’ll show him. He knocked the store he works for 
out of this sale. ’ ’ 

Elderly woman: “Yes, the brute. He is so poor he can’t 
buy anything. We wouldn’t hurt the old cleaner just trying 
it on my rugs. They are better rugs than he can ever buy 
and he is just jealous because Mrs. Blank is about to buy 
the sweeper and he can’t get one for his wife. That’s all 
there is to it. ’ ’ 

Mrs. Blank: “Yes. That’s the truth, and if I could just 
keep this man here until my husband comes home, he would 
throw him out in the street and break his old cleaner in a 
thousand pieces. I’ll show that old meddler next door that 













TALES Or UNUSUAL SALES 


206 


he hasn’t any business butting in my affairs at all. I did 
intend to buy the sweeper but I’ll not have the old thing 
even as a gift now. I wouldn’t have a thing that comes from 
the store that that old meddler works for. Any way, that 

store is the highest priced one in town. Why,-store 

offered to sell me anything I wanted. I’ll just call them up 
to send me out a different make.” 

Elderly woman: “That’s just what I’d do too, Mrs. 
Blank.” And on they went. 1 pulled out my watch and it 
was about three minutes before one. I was sure it was about 
time for me to get out of there so I took the Hoover Suction 
Sweeper and began to edge my way toward the door. 
Finally, I got out and all the time they were raving on. 

Just as I went to go down the front steps I said, raising 
my hand: “Why, that’s all right, Mrs. Blank. You don’t 
have to purchase this machine, .you haven’t hurt it in any 
way. But listen, Mrs. Blank, if you let me take this Hoover 
back to the store, you will just prove to the ‘meddler’ that 
he was right—that you did not intend to buy and that you 
could not.” 

“Well,” she said. “I’ll show him 1 can buy it,” and she 
rushed to her purse and paid cash for it—every dollar. 
However, during the time she was counting her money and 
handing it to me she kept saying: 

“ I ’ll show him whether I can buy it or not. ’ ’ 

I sold more than a dozen machines on that street after that. 







TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 


207 


BOTANY AND VACUUM CLEANERS 

By F. D. Colvin 

A FEW months ago I was connected with a concern sell¬ 
ing vacuum cleaners via the house-to-house route. To 
anyone who has tackled this kind of a proposition I do 
not need to say that the salesman has to use all his powers 
of persuasion, because they know just what I mean. There 
was a crew of us working a town of about eight or nine thou¬ 
sand population and times became very dull. I decided to try 
my luck in one of the small towns near there and fared forth, 
vacuum cleaner under my arm. 

I did not have any luck the first two da^s I was there. I 
began to run short of cash and then firmly decided that I 
would sell a cleaner or ‘‘know the reason why.” Perhaps I 
had called at thirty or thirty-five houses and failed to even 
interest them. Thoroughly disgusted, I decided that the case 
was hopeless. When I was debating as to whether I should 
try again or go back to town, I noticed a neat little cottage a 
few doors ahead and decided to try there. I approached the 
house and this is the reception I received: 

I had no more than reached the gate than I heard a voice 
stating that “I don’t want to buy anything.” Paying no 
attention, I went inside the yard and walked up on the front 
porch. An old lady was sitting there knitting. She asked 
me if I was hard of hearing and upon finding that I was not 
she seemed to be surprised and wanted to know why I didn’t 
pass on by. I started talking about my cleaner but she 
insisted that she didn’t want to buy one. I offered to clean 
her rugs, mattresses and in fact nearly included the whole 
house. Still she was not interested. As a last resort to get 
rid of me, she would not talk. I kept on spieling, however, 
and told her the usual line about sanitation, work saving, 
etc., etc. 





TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 


208 


After a short time she sprang to her feet and ordered me 
out of her yard. I guess that put the fixings to me because 
I turned and walked away. When I had nearly reached the 
gate, a happy idea struck me. 1 saw that the hedge and 
flowers in the yard were well attended. That was all I 
needed. I turned and walked back to the porch and inquired 
as to the variety of hedge which was growing on her place. 
Her face became wreathed in smiles and she began telling 
me of her hedge and flowers. I talked with her for some time 
about shrubbery in general. She proved to be well versed. 
I learned from her that she was especially proud of her yard 
and grounds. After about an hour’s visit I started to leave 
and as an after-thought asked her if she wouldn’t like to see 
our cleaner. I told her that her house should compare with 
her yard in cleanliness and order. She permitted me to show 
her my machine and when I put the suction to some of her 
19th century plush furniture, I saw she was nearly sold. 
She made a remark about feather beds and that was her un¬ 
doing. I showed her how to transfer feathers, using pieces of 
paper, from one tick to another. That sold the machine. She 
never said another word. 

Within two minutes I had a check for $62.50 as cash pay¬ 
ment. Ninety per cent of our machines were sold on the 
installment plan. I was especially proud of that sale because 
I certainly had to use my wits and scour my brains for bits 
of school-gotten botany. If I hadn’t noticed her yard and 
taken advantage of that, 1 would have lost the sale. As I 
left her house 1 heard the customer ’phoning her daughter 
that she had just bought a vacuum cleaner from the “nicest 
young man.” 

After inquiring around next morning I sold her daughter 
one upon her mother’s recommendation. 





TALES OP UNUSUAL SALES 


209 


DEMONSTRATION OVERCOMES OBJECTION 

By J. F. Sullivan 

F OR one year I worked in a Retail Household Department 
Store as a salesman, selling everything from tea strain¬ 
ers to washing-machines, vacuum cleaners and stoves. 
In connection with our retail department, we also had a 
wholesale division. 

About a year ago the General Manager called me into his 
office and told me he had something to say to me. He said to 
me: “We do a big wholesale business in all .our lines of mer¬ 
chandise throughout the state, except electric washers, vacuum 
cleaners and stoves. You seem to understand this business 
and we want you to sell these commodities throughout the 
state. ” 

I was greatly surprised at the proposition, knowing it to be 
a big job selling to dealers in different towns. It took me but 
a few minutes to decide as he waited for the answer. Now to 
sell these articles it was necessary to show the dealer the 
machine and what it would do; so to get the business, the firm 
bought a one-ton Ford truck and put four different types of 
washers on it for samples. I sat up nights reading and think¬ 
ing what I was to say and how I was to se’l, for all eyes were 
upon me. 

The day I left, I was up at daylight and it never rained as 
hard since the Hood. On the truck, and off I went. To make 
my first town I had a seventy-five mile drive and landed 
there at noon. I drove up in front of the largest store in 
town. At first I did not know whether to take a catalogue 
or a washing machine with me. A buyer received me more 
in a curious way to find out what I had in such a trave'ing 
truck. When he learned it was electric washers, that ended it. 

“Don’t want any—not interested.” With hands in the 
air he said: “Everyone in town is selling them. They are 





210 TALES OF UNUSUAL SALES 


out only a week when the gears break and that means trouble 
and service. You arc losing a lot of time with me.” 

While we were talking a customer came into the store and 
purchased some sugar. Having the side curtain of the truck 
up, she saw the copper tub and remarked that she was going 
to buy a washing machine, but it had to be the very best. I 
soon got talking to the customer and asked the dealer if I 
could take a washer into the store and show it to the customer. 
With an inward smile he said: “Yes.” 

In a few minutes I was demonstrating the washer, and made 
• a cash sale of $180.00, less 30 per cent for Mr. Dealer. 

After the customer left, and in a short time, I convinced 
Mr. Dealer that the washing machine business was a profitable 
one, and this washer was the best on the market, and asked if 
there were any other customers who might be interested. He 
immediately called a man on the phone and another sale was 
made. I left Mr. Dealer after he had given me an order for 
six washing machines. 

This I consider one of the Best Sales I ever made and one 
of the greatest lessons l ever learned. “Help the dealer to 
sell your merchandise.” 

























































































































































































































































































































































































































